


These Games We Play

by CSM



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Fake Marriage, Olicity Fic Bang, Post Season 2, Slow Burn, Tropes, UST, What if the kiss did happen, season 2.5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 18:53:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5467370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSM/pseuds/CSM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Standing in the middle of the Queen mansion in the eye of the storm, Oliver uttered those three words that forever changed her life, whether she or Oliver wanted it to or not. It started with three words and a kiss. Post 2x23 fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is my take of if that delete kiss in 223 did happen and how Oliver and Felicity deals with it. It will reference a few things in the 2.5 comics but there is no need to read that to follow this. I hope to tell their story through a series of tropes. Updates will be weekly, every Saturday.
> 
> This is my story for the Olicity Fic Big Bang.
> 
>  
> 
> Special thanks to sharyingmyworld for the lovely art work :)

He asked her if she trusted him.

He asked her if she meant what she said, that he should outsmart Slade. He said that he might have an idea as to how to trick Slade and asked her yet again if she trusted him, if she was willing to risk her life like this. He apologized for his suggestion but her only response is to grab the bull by its horns and slide onto his Ducati looking at him expectantly.

It was nothing like she imagined it, being on his Ducati for the first time, her mind had conjured many different scenarios, none of which involved him taking her to her doom. He apologized again, as they zoomed through the collapsing Starling City around them. He said he could find another way to trick Slade, but she knows this is the best option. She knew _she_ was the best option, because Slade would never see it coming. Oliver Queen in love with her? It was unfathomable and that is what made it the perfect way to outsmart Slade.

When Oliver came to her with the idea he never uttered the L word, no he simply said, "what if Slade thinks he took the wrong girl and it's not Laurel?"

It sounded so ridiculous, it just might work, and they did need to get close to Slade, give him the serum. She was their best option and Oliver hated it but he was right. He apologized the entire time but she yelled at him in loud voice that this was her life and her choice an echo of their conversation a year prior. She never really understood the ramifications of her actions until she was standing in the abandon Queen mansion and Oliver was demanding she stay where she was. The urgency in his voice making her worry, this wasn’t part of the plan.

“Oliver!” She called out frantically finally putting her foot down.

He tried to explain to her, his voice insistent, that he needed her safe and away from it all, and with each word she just got more and more confused. Didn't they just agree that she would be used at bait? Why was he suddenly trying to protect her? She fought tooth and nail insisting that she wanted to be unsafe with him and the others until he blurted out that Slade had the wrong woman and then she remembered the cameras.

She only then remembered the set up.

“ _Oh_!”

Her soft gasp was that of realization and she hoped she played it off as surprise. Her heart was hammering in her chest as Oliver took a step towards her and he looked at her so tenderly she's beginning to wonder if he remembered the cameras and if he truly just wanted her out of harm’s way. She can’t forget the urgency in his voice, the way his eyes scanned the abandon building and then looking at her with such certainty.

When he took a step forward, his fingers just barely grasping her elbow and his eyes soft, she began to wonder if she's having an out of body experience. He's sold it already stated that Slade got the wrong woman. She was sure his urgency and insistence that she stay here coupled with her initial confusion was enough. What else could he say? _Then_ she remembers the syringe with the antidote. He forgot to give it to her, she raised her arm to his, knowing that is what he has to give her but then his eyes zero in on her and they grow soft and tender and her heart skips a beat.

" _I love you."_

He said it softly, practically whispered it to her as though it was just a secret shared between the two of them. In that moment she wished that was the case, but as she looked him in the eye, his blue eyes clear and certain, she was beginning to wonder how much of ruse was it truly.  He looked down at her, his eyes moving to her lips and then locking with eyes and she knew what was coming. Her heart seized in realization he tilted his head towards her and she wondered if he could hear the rapid beating of her heart in her chest. Was her heartbeat echoing in the abandoned room, or was it part of her imagination, much like this moment?

He was a hair’s breath away now, his lips just barely hovering over hers and that's when she realized he's waiting for her to meet him halfway. Without really thinking about it she rose on her toes and brushed her lips against his.

His lips were soft but firm against hers, she could feel the heat of his body radiating off of him. Her heart rate skyrocketed as she leaned into the kiss, her fingers that seemed to have gravitated to his arm dug into the soft leather of his suit. His body shifted slightly, angled away from his bad knee and coincidently toward her. She uncurled her fingers and pressed her palm against his arm, steadying him.

The kiss ends far too quickly for her taste, he pulled back just a fraction of an inch, their hot breaths still mingling together. She was at a loss of words, until she felt the hard plastic of the syringe slip between her free hand and his much large hand encompassed her own. The rough material of his gloves scraped against her knuckles he squeezed her fingers in reassurance, the syringe pressed between them, a firm reminder of her harsh reality.

“Do you understand?” His voice was soft, almost apologetic as he pressed his fingertips against her hand yet again to emphasize his point.

“Yes.” She muttered, audible enough to be heard over the speakers, but she couldn’t stop her voice from breaking.

Like a bucket of cold water to the face, she violently brought back to her current predicament, the harsh reality of what she must face. Oliver lingered just a fraction of a second, she could feel his gaze fixated on her, but she needed to catch her breath, she needed to reel herself back in. She released a soft gasp as the front door slammed, the sound almost deafening in the abandoned mansion.

She slipped the syringe into her coat pocket, her heart beating fiercely and then she was left with her own thoughts, awaiting the arrival of Slade’s men.

 

* * *

 

“It’s over.”

Oliver’s tired voice echoes around her and then as he cuts off the comms the silence overtakes her. She looks to Sara with wide eyes; the blonde looks at her sister who is currently breathing heavily as she leans against a pillar. This must be a lot to take in for the brunette, to find out about Oliver, and then the whole being kidnapped by crazy super soldiers. Felicity winces when she realizes Laurel was very much present when Slade called Oliver and threatened Felicity’s life.

Felicity shivers at the memory of the cold blade against her skin, the way Slade’s men dragged her to the warehouse. She’s certain she will have bruises the size of Texas on her arms by tomorrow not to mention the throbbing pain in her head, she can practically feel the dried blood caking her hair to her scalp. Her body aches in places she didn’t know existed, she just wants to go home and soak in her bathtub for about 48 hours.

She takes a deep breath and walks around the various nooks and crannies of the warehouse they have been kept in, taking the now familiar walk back to where Slade originally held her. She can hear the sound of sirens in the distance, helicopters circling all the various places in the city, she reaches the open air of the helipad and shivers when she spies Slade Wilson’s slumped form tied to one of the large pillars. She shivers on, passing by him and tugs her sweater closer to her. With the surge of adrenaline no longer coursing through her veins, her body is beginning to become sluggish, the night’s events catching up to her. But, she continues on, making a beeline for the lone figure overlooking the chaos of the city. Oliver is leaning against a crate, parallel to the city’s skyline, his bum leg outstretched. His bow and quiver are in a pile at his feet, his head thrown back against the crate the sheer exhaustion radiating off of him. He’s got his mask hung loosely around his neck, his face bruised and battered as Felicity takes a step towards him she can see freshly new cuts and bruises already beginning to form.

“Hey.” She calls out softly making sure not to startle him. He scoots a little closer to edge, leaving her room to lean against the crate as well.

She holds onto the edge of the crate and slowly lowers herself next him, her body protesting. Oliver looks her over with concern, his eyes roaming her body and lingering on the bruises beginning to form on her arm. “Are you okay?”

Felicity smiles, trying to not appear as shaken up as she feels, “Nothing a 48 hour bubble bath and probably twice as long nap won’t cure.”

She can see the beginning of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but Oliver’s bare, but battered fingers brushes against the purple tinge on her skin. She’d since lost her coat, opting to lend Laurel when the young woman had gone into shock. Felicity, herself seemed to be overheating in her trench coat, the adrenaline coursing through her obviously played a part. Now, she’s beginning to feel the spring air nip at her skin, her short sleeve cardigan doing little to fight off the cold. She’s beginning to wonder if it would be rude to call Sara and ask her to bring back her jacket, when Oliver’ low groan catches her attention. She looks to her left just in time to see Oliver easing out of his jacket.

“Oliver, what are you… _oh_.”

She gives a short surprise gasp when he drapes the jacket over her shoulders tugging it close at the lapels so it covers her shoulders. It smells mostly of smoke and sweat, but she can also smell the distinct uniqueness that is just _Oliver_ and for some reason that alone brings her warmth, more than a jacket ever could.

They sit in comfortable silence, the chaos in the city going down below them. Oliver’s eyes are trained on the chaos, lingering on the smoking building around them. There are so many reassurances she wants to give him, make promises she knows she can’t keep. Instead she sits in silence and offers him the only comfort she thinks he’s willing to take, which is her company.

“Waller’s men are going to detain him til tomorrow.” Oliver whispers softly, if his face wasn’t inches from hers, she is sure his comment would have been blown away with the wind. “She’s organizing a plane to take Slade to Lian Yu tomorrow. She has a special facility on the island to hold him.”

Felicity knows there is so much about the island Oliver hasn’t told her. She knows there are so many people he’d come in contact with in those five years that she knows nothing about. The ramifications of those secrets is sitting a few feet away from them slumped against pillar and restrained, but she also knows Oliver has his reasons.

“I’ll come with.”

“Felicity…”

“Dig and I, we’ll go with you. Not that you need the backup, or that I can really provide much back up hundreds of feet in the air, but you know for moral support.” She prattles off giving him a sheepish smile.

“Thank you, Felicity”

He whispers it softly but the three words are loaded with so much meaning behind it, Felicity can on nod in understanding. She knows Oliver isn’t ready to give more than that, and she herself isn’t sure if she’s ready to ask for more.

She turns her head to look at him, cheek pressed against the collar of his jacket that is loosely wrapped around her. She nuzzles the jacket, humming in appreciation as sleep starts to seep through her bones making her body lax. Her eyes flutter open and she sees Oliver staring back at her, his face only inches from hers. His eyes are warm and affectionate, a look she’s beginning to get accustomed to seeing on his face. His lip is red and swollen, an angry red slice marring his previously spotless lips and she’s suddenly taken back to the Queen mansion and when he uttered another three loaded words.

She wants to ask him what does this mean, what did _he_ mean when he said all that, but she knows that now is not the time. Oliver’s body has all but collapsed next to her, he’s both physically and emotionally exhausted. She can save her questions for another time. Oliver’s eyes are flickering over her face, taking her in, his gaze never wavering. She’s almost certain he’s thinking the same thing she is, reminiscing like she is.

His head tilts towards her and her heart seizes in surprise, she’s about to tilt her chin up, a silent permission, when the loud, gusting winds caused by helicopter propellers pulls them out of their moment.  Oliver’s face hardens as the helicopter hovers and Amanda Waller jumps out and lands gracefully in 4 inch heels. If Felicity didn’t like the woman, she would have asked her how she maneuvers so easily in 4 inch heels.

Oliver tries to get up, but his bummed knee makes it difficult, Felicity automatically wraps her arms around his waist and tugs him into a standing position. They both grunt simultaneously, him in pain and her at the added weight on her shoulders as they make their way toward Waller.

“Mr. Queen.” Waller all but sneers. She takes one look at Oliver’s broken state and then Felicity who still has his jacket over her shoulders and the older woman scoffs in disbelief.

“Amanda.”

Oliver’s grip tightens around Felicity’s shoulders, his voice resembles that of the Arrow even without the modulator, but his warning is crystal clear. Felicity, yet again wonders what Oliver’s history is with this woman, the level of distrust and dislike is clearly mutual between the two.

“I’m tired of cleaning up your messes, Queen.”

“I got rid of the threat, Amanda.” Oliver growls in return, “you keep your end of the deal. Keep him sedated. Don’t let anyone near him and I’ll take him to Lian Yu tomorrow, personally.”

Amanda snarls, but glances back at her men who are gathering a passed out Slade into the helicopter, “Alright. I’ll see you in 5 hours. I can only hope this is the last time we see each other.”

With those final words she stalks off and head back to the helicopter.

“You and me both.” Oliver mutters with a deep sigh.

“You should go home. Take a shower, get some rest before tomorrow's journey.” Felicity suggest softly, pulling Oliver’s thoughts away from Amanda Waller and Slade. The helicopter is all but gone now and the city itself seems so much further than it actually is.

“No home to go to.” Oliver grunts in pain as he slips out of her grasps and leans onto a nearby pillar.

“Come home with me.” Felicity offers, but as her words catch up with her, she looks to the sky in exasperation, “I don’t mean it like a proposition…I mean clearly neither of us.. _ugh_ ….just…why do I even bother?”

This time Oliver _does_ smile at her words, but it last all of a minute before he’s shaking his head in the negative, “You go home, get some rest. It may not be the 48 hours you’re hoping for, but at least it’s a few hours.”

She frowns at the obviously dismissal, “Oliver, what are you going to do?”

Oliver sighs deeply, his body now angled away from hers and he looks out into the city horizon, “I just need sometime to myself.”

Felicity sighs and slips off his jacket handing it back to him. The request is not unexpected, in fact she’s surprised it took him so long ask to be alone, but she’s never one to go quietly and Oliver _knows_ that. She takes a step towards him, slipping her fingers through his to gain his attention. When he turns to her, his blue eyes dark and filled with remorse, she can see the exhaustion written all over his face, “Promise me you’ll go back to the foundry. Clean up and just _rest_ for a while?”

“I’ll try.” Oliver offers. It’s not the promise she was hoping for, but she knows when to pick her battles. She’s about to walk off when Oliver tugs her back gently, her eyes are wide in surprise, “Let me take you home. I don’t want you walking back to your apartment in this mess.”

“Yea, I don’t think the cab service is even activated.” Felicity says sheepishly, she had not really thought about how she would get home, just that she was ready to give him space.

“C’mon.” Oliver beckons.

He releases his hold on her and pressing his hand against the wall for a brief moment, the pain etched across his face evident. She wants to ask him if he can even drive like this, but knows the question would go on deaf ears, so instead she takes the Arrow jacket from him and holds it out, helping ease back into it. She fiddles with the zipper, wondering if she should pull it up, but Oliver surprises her by taking her hand and guiding the zipper up his torso slowly. She pats his chest lightly and looks up at him affectionately, his eyes dilate and she can hear the way his breath hitches, and she freezes, yanking her hand away as if the material has burnt her.

Oliver looks away, the moment lost and then grunts out her name in calling, his voice rough and unreadable, “Let’s go.”

She’s beginning to wonder if not bringing up the kiss really was her best plan.

 

* * *

She stands on the beach her hands in her pockets as she gazes around the island, really taking it in for the first time. She can hear birds chirping in the distance, the waves crashing against the shore, the smell of the salty ocean air overtaking her senses. If she did not know the terrors that awaited past those trees, or the ARGUS built super max prison, Lian Yu would look like a tropical paradise. But Felicity knows looks can be deceiving.

She watches the bunker through squinted eyes, her hand pressed gingerly against her forehead as she waits for Oliver’s return. She’s uncharacteristically quiet and she knows John has picked up on it immediately, but the older man has yet to call her out on it. She suspects he’s already figured out that it’s got something to do with Oliver, because when is there _not_ a problem.

When Oliver approaches them he looks troubled, she wants to ask him how he feels, but she also knows it’s futile. She’s gathered enough evidence to come to the conclusion that Slade use to be a friend of Oliver’s and in spite of everything he’s done, Felicity knows part of Oliver, the guilty part feels some remorse. Oliver’s not the same man she met two years ago.

She tunes into the boys conversation just in time to hear Oliver’s plans about getting back his family’s company. Oh that’s right, she has to start looking for a new job.

“That’s not going to be easy, seeing as you’re poor now. You’re going to have to get a job. If Slade doesn’t scare you, that’s got to,” She teases him and she’s happy to see the barest hint of a smile.

“You know anyone hiring ex-billionaires with superior archery skills?” Oliver jokes, much to her surprise and it makes her think that things will be okay.

Oliver then looks out into the distance and huffs softly to himself, and all Felicity’s hope is shattered. She can practically see the wheels turning in his head, see him begin to close himself off. She needs talk to him _now_ before he has time to process things any further, she  throws Diggle a pointed look and bless their friend because he gets it almost immediately and excuses himself.

Once out of earshot Felicity takes a deep breath to gather her courage and takes a few steps to stand in front of Oliver to face him, “Well, you did it.”

“I had help.” Oliver says humbly and gives her a pointed look.

Felicity nods in agreement, her hands slipping into her pockets as she looks up at him, “It’s really smart the way you outfoxed him...I thought...at first I thought you were going against what we agreed on...that you just wanted to keep me safe…”

“Felicity, you know I’ll _always_ want to keep you safe.” Oliver interjects taking a small step closer to her.

“I _know_. Trust me, I know that…..I just you really had me fooled...I thought, when you told me you loved me and then the kiss...you had me fooled...I thought...I mean I knew about the cameras, hell I was the one to agree with this...but just for a moment I thought….but, talk about unthinkable….you and me, I mean...for a second there I thought you meant it...but the cameras _obviously,_ I figured out what it was. I mean the ruse, I _knew_ it was ruse...you really sold it.”

“We both did.” Oliver agrees.

She moves just a fraction of an inch closer to him, her breath catches between her throat as she waits for him to deny it. To say that she was wrong, that it wasn’t all in her head, that he felt it too, or crush her hopes and confirm that it was in fact all a ruse, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t say anything really, just stares at her with the barest hint of a smile and she _hates_ that she can’t read him, that she can’t figure out what he means.

Her shoulder’s slump in disappointment, and part of her hates that she expected any more than that. She nods at him and is about to turn on her heels when he grasps the sleeve of her jacket, halting her movements 

“Felicity.”

She turns to look at him with curious eyes, and she knows her hope is evident. He takes one look at her lips that are slightly parted and leans forward, but then he squeezes her forearm briefly and takes a step back. “Let’s go home.”

She offers him a smile and decides to follow his lead, not just to meet Diggle by the plane, but also to put this entire thing behind them. She can more than do that, after all it was just a ruse to begin with.

Except, she can’t seem to stop replaying the kiss in her and she can feel her body crave for more.

She is completely screwed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some events from season 2.5 comics specifically Felicity kidnapping by brother blood will be mentioned but it's not necessary to read season 2.5 to follow along. I explain the important bits and really it's more of the after effect and how that is the catalyst to get Olicity where they need to be more specifically Oliver as the story goes on I'll be going back and forth between both of their pov to explain things. Thank you for the reviews so glad so many people are interested in this story :)

**Six Weeks Later**

As far as missions go, this one was supposed to be as easy as they come. In fact she would have hardly called it a mission in the first place. Gathering intel from some low life drug dealer should _not_ have been this difficult. The drug in question was having effects on club goers lowering inhibition and causing chaos throughout the city. The thing is however, there have been rumours about the drug becoming _deadly_ and that’s why they are trying to nip it in the bud before it can get worse. 

When they got to what they _assumed_ was the base of the operations, it turned out the entire thing was a setup of massive proportions.  Instead of finding the warehouse that had the main manufacturing of the new drug that’s been taking over the city, they came across an empty warehouse filled with a bunch of thugs who were only there waiting for them. They had found out that distribution of the new drug called venues was being held at the docks miles away. With the SPCD on that drug bust, Oliver, Roy and Felicity were heading to the main head of operations, the only reason Felicity was there was so that she could infiltrate the ridiculous firewalls set up so she can get all the files about the drug deals.

They never anticipated that the entire thing would be a set up for _them_. Oliver in particular hated the fact that not only did they trick them, but Felicity was put in harm's way unnecessarily.

A few hours, and a few more bruises, later the team trudges back into the foundry a little worse for wear. Roy is the first to stagger to the medic bench, as Felicity follows his lead to help stitch up his forearm that got slashed in the fight. His new suit sadly not lasting more than a week without getting torn.

“What are we going to do now?” Roy grumbles, never the best of moods after getting his ass kicked. “This was our last lead. They have us running around in circles.”

Felicity helps him out of his jacket, wincing when the red leather pulls where it stuck to his dried blood. She looks across at Oliver questioningly as he puts his bow and quiver away, “Did you get to place it?" 

“Three of them. Two on their jackets, I’m hoping that the third one on their motorcycle will take us to the actual base of operations.” Oliver answers.

He glances at the computers, then back at Felicity, who is currently stitching up Roy’s arm. He takes a step closer examining her work, his foot tapping against the concrete impatiently, which is not lost to Felicity. She rolls her eyes, and simply tugs her stool closer to Roy’s arm taking her time to close up the wound, paying no attention to the broody figure looming over her.

“Oliver, you standing there isn’t going to get me to hurry up.”  Felicity remarks dryly, when she hears Roy’s soft snort and she jabs him with the needle a little harder than necessary.

It’s been a little over a month since they defeated Slade and his army, a very _long_ month. Felicity has both found a new job and _lost_ said new job. The highlight though was when she was kidnapped by Brother Blood, or more specifically Clinton Houghe’s lackies. It figures the _one_ guy she gets to interrogate and he’s out for her blood, pun not intended. 

Things between her and Oliver since ‘the kiss’ - as Felicity refers to it, only in her head that is - were finally starting to go back to normal, or as normal as things can be between her and Oliver. But, since her kidnapping she’s noticed Oliver _hovering_ more than normal. He checks in on her more often than normal and they never go a day without speaking, but yet, much to Felicity’s chagrin, things are still at a stalemate and her frustration level has increased tenfold. It’s beginning to affect how they conduct their night job and Felicity’s almost at her wits end. She promised herself that she would let the issue rest, just like they, or well _she_ implied on Lian Yu, but ever since her kidnapping things have _changed_ yet again, and Felicity is unsure if it’s for the better or not.

Felicity _really_ hates uncertainties.

She _feels_ rather than hears Oliver’s small huff of exasperation at the base of her neck, her skin breaks out into goosebumps, and for once she is grateful for her black attire for going on the field. She turns her head to the right and sure enough Oliver is standing inches behind her, his boot still tapping against the concrete floor.

“ _Oliver_ ,” She warns, but he just folds his arms looking at her with a frown and she sighs, offering the needle that still has the nylon looped and attached to Roy’s skin.

“Seriously?” Roy asks incredulously.

But she pays him no attention and spins on her stool to peer up at Oliver, who is standing all tall and looming over her trying to appear intimidating but he only looks like a pouting child.  Seriously, he’s only got his leather pants on, his jacket already back on the mannequin, but his arms are folded over his chest, pulling at the material of his black t-shirt and she momentarily forgets her train of thought at how _good_ he looks.

Felicity shakes her head to clear her mind of _those_ thoughts and looks up at Oliver pointedly, her eyes narrowing, “Go. Change out of your suit, shower, get that grime off you and by the time you’re back. I’ll have the searches running.”

Oliver huffs about to protest but she beats him to that as well, “Oliver, you are not going back out there tonight without any backup. Roy’s hurt and John’s with Lyla for the night. It’s bad enough you and Roy were out numbered out there, we need to have a proper plan in place when _everyone_ present before we can infiltrate. The SCPD were able to get ahold of some the dealers, maybe they can get some information from them about the person in charge. Point is, there is nothing you can do _tonight_.”

“Felicity, this thing is going on too long.” Oliver all but growls, she knows his frustration isn’t directed _at_ her but she doesn’t take too kindly to his tone anyway.

“Don’t you think I know that Oliver?” Felicity snaps. She knows he’s been on edge since her kidnapping, but she really wishes he’d start taking his frustrations on the stupid dummies they have in the foundry and not on her or the team. “I am very aware that this new drug is rampant in the Glades and there is talk of it branching out in other parts of the city as well it becoming _deadly_. I _know_ what’s at stake, we all do. Neither Roy nor I are slacking off, but Roy is of no use to you if he’s bleeding out, anymore than you are running on empty.”

“Yes, gaping wound here, could you two wait till I’m not dying of blood loss before you go at it?” Roy asks dryly, but immediately raises his fingers in defense - the only part of him that can move without irritating his stitches- when both Felicity and Oliver whip around to face him with matching glares.

“Roy, you have two stitches left, you’re hardly going to die.” Felicity says with exasperation, before she turns back to Oliver and points to the back room that house their bathroom, “Shower.”

“Call me as _soon_ as you find something.” Oliver warns. Felicity waves him off knowing that Oliver always needs to have the last say. She doesn’t bother to point out that the searches could take _hours_ and Oliver will be out of the shower _long_ before that.

Not that she keeps track of his shower schedule, or habits.

She slips back onto the stool, taking the needle from Roy’s hand and pointedly ignoring his knowing smirk. She may or may not have added in an extra stitch just for that look, but Roy does not need to know that, the small satisfaction she gets at his winces is good enough for her.

Once Roy is stitched up and taken care off, Felicity immediately returns to her station and begins running the location trackers Oliver planted on the men they fought. Sure enough by the time Oliver is out of shower and dressed in his sweats and t-shirt, she has already determined that one of the trackers has been thrown off. It’s location just hovers over the warehouse they were initially at, and Felicity assumes that either it fell off in the scuffle or one of the men is dead and remains in the same spot, waiting to be found.

Oliver moves up behind her, his hand resting on the grooves of her chair, his fingertips just barely grazing her bare shoulder, as she too lost her jacket earlier in the night. Her senses are overtaken by his familiar musty scent and she has to stop herself from leaning back against the chair and breathing it all in.

“What did you find?” He asks, the urgency in his voice is still evident, but the gruffness seems to have been simmered and Felicity is grateful for whatever magical powers that shower possesses. 

“One tracker seems to be a no go.” Felicity says pointing to the map on her left. She then gestures to the two red dots that are currently on the move, “These however are still in the game. They keep taking random routes to various points throughout the city. I have a program running to mark down each stop they make and will forward the information to Detective Lance. Hopefully, he’s leading us straight to the dealers.”

“What about the third one?” Oliver asks. This time he leans over her shoulder and peers at the screens, she can feel the heat radiating off of him, the fresh smell of soap and shampoo tickling her senses.

She leans forward, more to put some distance between them, but plays it off as her reaching for the keyboard to switch the maps. Another thing she’s noticed, and hates, is that she’s so attuned to these things. Ever since they shared a bottle of wine the night she was kidnapped, things have changed. She sensed a change in their relationship, a change in Oliver. She is much more aware of Oliver’s presence, to a point that she realizes _he_ seems much more attentive to her, and his small touches linger longer than normal. At the same time, he sometimes just completely switches _off_ on her and he returns to that grumpy, broody man she’s use to.

She has however noticed that those particular moods only seem to arise when she is faced with sudden harm. Twice she’s been in the field with them, and both times things have not gone as planned and Oliver was equally growly on both occasions. She knows her kidnapping spooked him, hell she still allows him to take her home every night and check out her apartment, and it’s not _just_ for his peace of mind. She too is still rattled by her few days tied to a chair and feared for her life.

That being said, she only wished Oliver wouldn’t take out his frustrations when something goes wrong on her and the team. But she knows getting Oliver to talk about his emotions would be like talking to the wall, in fact she suspects she would have better luck with the wall than with Oliver. After all, that day on the beach _she_ was the one that did all the talking and Oliver just nodded in agreement.

Not that she’s _bitter_ about it.

Well not completely.

“This one has not moved since I’ve started running the searches.” Felicity informs him, her finger hovering over the bright red dot unnecessarily. 

“Where…”

“Pinewood.” Felicity cuts him off as she sits back in her seat turning her body to face him. It’s not until the soft material of his t-shirt lightly brushes against her cheek, does Oliver realize how close he has been leaning towards her, and he takes a step back, his eyes roaming the computer screens instead of her.

 _Yeah_ , lingering touches but yet sometimes he purposely puts five feet between them. Oliver has clearly mastered the art of mixed signals. Felicity briefly wonders if he picked that one up on the island as well.

“Pinewood, do you think one of those men lived in the suburbs?” Oliver asks with a frown. 

The drug dealers they have come across are always on two sides of the spectrum, either the low lives in the Glades, who waste their days away getting high, or the businessmen who live downtown and _run_ the drug companies within their own companies, hiding behind their corporate personas.

“Possibly, I’m hoping when the last one stops for the night we’ll be able to have a better idea,” Felicity explains, her fingers dancing across the keyboard.

“Blue collar guy moved yet?” Roy asks as he returns from his own shower, a towel on his head as he dries his hair. Felicity scowls when she realizes it’s not the bath towels she set aside in the bathroom, but her nice _hand_ towels.

“We don’t know that he’s blue collar, Roy.”

“Pinewood isn’t exactly a _rich_ neighbourhood. People in Pinewood are only one step up from most of us living in the Glades.” Roy points out. 

He leans against the table, peering the computer screens, he tosses the towel to the empty table behind him, but on seeing Felicity’s glare, he quickly picks it up and tosses it over his shoulder, ensuring that he will take it back to its rightful place. Felicity narrows her eyes and Roy raises his hands up in defense again, taking a step away from her.

“I don’t think he lives there.” Oliver calls out, pulling them both out of their non-verbal stare off, Roy has another thing coming if he thinks Felicity will be picking up after him.

“Unless those two are living together?” Felicity offers, “you never know selling and making illegal substances could be the new way to meet people.”

To her surprise both men exchange matching scowls, before Oliver turns to her seriously, “they are not.”

When Roy _grunts_ in agreement, she knows she’s better off not knowing how they know that. She remembers all too well the moment one of the thugs found her in her hiding space, but the man barely had time to _leer_ at her before he had two green arrows in the thighs, bringing him to his knees almost immediately.

That probably explained their stationary tracker.

Yes, sometimes she’s better off not knowing things, especially when Roy is almost as growly as Oliver is. She turns to the screens and presses a few keys, frowning when she is unable to locate any street cams that focuses on the location, neither are their any house cameras in the area.

“Looks like Roy’s right, Pinewood isn’t exactly the elite citizens of Starling. There are no street cameras pointing towards the area, or home cameras either. According to this the property is Pinewind- _that’s_ original - Villas. It’s a small apartment complex with absolutely no security cams. Are we still sure the two blurry men aren’t shacking up?”

Off Oliver and Roy’s annoyed looks, Felicity raises _her_ hands in defense and goes back to typing, after a few minutes she frowns, her head tilting to the side, “Well _that’s_ not normal.”

“What isn’t?” Oliver asks impatiently, his hand resting on her shoulder as he leans forward.

“There is some kind of encrypted network, something that is _not_ normal for a small suburban apartment. It’s similar to the last one that led us to the warehouse.” Felicity frowns, keyboard clicking as she tries to fight through the firewall, but with no avail.

“Does that mean it’s another setup?” Roy asks with a frown, “why would they go to the suburbs?”

“ _Exactly_!” Felicity says excitedly in realization, her eyes wide as she turns to face both men, “ _Why_ would they go there? No would suspect them to be hidden in plain sight like that. These kind of apartment complexes allows them to set up internet and other networks without landlords or cable companies batting an eyelash. They should be able to afford it so no one is suspicious, but these landlords are probably like mine, in that they only need to see you for your money, and will take care of things if you ask, but otherwise they don’t live on the compound to see anything. People in the suburbs tend to turn a blind eye to things going within the neighbourhood, unlike the Glades where people _expect_ it. It’s _brilliant_ really.”

“Alright, how about we stop admiring their ability to outsmart us and figure out how to stop them?” Oliver grumbles impatiently.

“ _That_ might be harder than originally anticipated.” Felicity says sheepishly. She braces herself for the inevitable Oliver blow up, but is surprised when Oliver only looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. “We need… _I_ need a way to get closer to the basis of operations without raising suspicions.”

 _“No_.” Oliver growls, “tonight was a close call as it is. We’ll find another way, I’ll take one of those USBs and stick it in their computer or whatever for you.”

“Can the Arrow run around the suburbs without being seen?” Roy asks with a frown, “I mean it’s not like Pinewood is a place we frequent often.”

“Roy’s right, and the best time to see the place, without raising suspicions would be during the day anyway.” Felicity points out. She tenses as she continues to lay out her plan, knowing that Oliver will not like _this_ particular suggestion. “I was thinking, this _is_ an apartment complex, what if I make an appointment with the landlord to see the apartments, I can have direct access to their mainframe. It will be quick and easy and they won’t suspect a thing.”

“And what if the landowner is also part of the entire operation?” Oliver counters, surprising her when he does not shut down her suggestion immediately, “You aren’t going alone, I’ll go with you.”

Felicity freezes at his words, she’s almost 100% certain that Oliver has not thought this through, much like _many_ of his plans. With Oliver, only the endgame is his goal, getting to that point is neither here nor there, which is probably why he values her input most times.

“Oliver, I’m going as a potential house owner, to look at apartments on _sale_.”  She speaks slowly, hoping she doesn’t have to spell it out for him.

“I’ll just go with you.” Oliver says easily, despite his words she can she the tops of his ears pinking slightly. It’s somewhat comforting to know that he is very much aware of what they are both implying without actually saying. “We’re not actually going to _buy_ an apartment, we can just let the landlord think that. Besides, you’ll need me to talk to the landlord while you get onto the system. Easy enough right?”

Famous last words.

Felicity bites her lip giving him strained smile, she does not bother to point out that she thinks it will be anything but. But, if Oliver seems so cool with the idea, she can adapt as well, she looks across at Roy and scowls when the younger man just smirks knowingly at her. She makes a mental note to change all the icons on Roy’s phone to dancing ponies, just to irritate him.

0oooo0

She gets into contact with the landlord of Pinewood Villas and they agree to meet her as early as the next day. Something she is grateful for, because she did not want to have to explain to Oliver that they could not get a meeting until the following week. She’s not really sure what to expect with this little outing, things between her and Oliver have been weird enough as it is because of her kidnapping and ‘the kiss'.

She really needs to stop referring it like that or one day when she brings it up she’s going to use the quotation marks. Not that she plans on bringing it up, but better safe than sorry.

They are going to be potential renters and have to discuss things about living together, and probably be all touchy and stuff and she’s not too sure she’s ready for that. She and Oliver haven’t discussed anything, other than the fact that he said he would pick her up. She just hopes that he does _not_ pick her up in the ducati, who knows what kind of message that will send to the homeowners if they see that. People can be so discriminating when looking for renters and yet don’t even realize that some of their renters are conducting illegal drug manufacturing right under their noses.

Felicity shakes her head clutching her large handbag to her chest, making a mental list of all her tech within her bag, when the familiar navy blue car pulls up, she frowns when she sees John at the front seat and for once he seems amused at his current job. Sure enough Oliver slips out from the back seat dressed in _three_ piece suit, and while Felicity very much appreciates the look, it’s so _not_ the thing you wear to look at apartments.

“What?” Oliver asks with a frown noticing her look of disbelief and tugs on the lapels of his jacket uncomfortably as he steps out of the car.

“You can’t wear _that_ to look at apartments in Pinewood!” Felicity says exasperated, “you need to look homey and approachable. A suit and tie just screams stuck up and full of money, neither of which you are.”

Diggle guffaws at her remark, not even bothering to hide his grin when Oliver scowls at him, “I told you all this was too much, including asking _me_ to take you. I also told you this entire plan is a bad idea.”

“The only reason you are coming is so that I have backup in case anything goes wrong.” Oliver growls and Felicity knows immediately that the snappy words between the two are _not_ about back up at all and something else completely.

Felicity sighs in exasperation and takes a step towards Oliver, her fingers tugging on his tie. She barely notices his wide eyes as she grabs the knot of the tie and loosening it, “You need to lose the jacket, roll up the sleeves and get rid of this tie.”

She tugs at the tie gently, her fingers grazing against the stubble at Oliver’s neck and when his breath hitches she becomes all too aware of their proximity or more precisely how intimate her gesture is. But, she can’t exactly stop and so she ploughs on through, fully aware of how tense he is. She takes his tie and stuffs it into her handbag and then removes the jacket tossing it into the back seat of the car.

“Felicity.”

Oliver stutters her name, but she’s already beginning to undo the cufflinks and now his fingers now grazing _her_ skin and this time when she breaks out into goosebumps she does _not_ have the luxury of her long sleeve shirt to hide her reaction.

She pauses in uncertainty, her fingers hovering over the cufflinks and she stares at the crisp white sleeve almost as though she’s unsure how she got to this point. A large hand covers hers and slips the button out of the hole, she tilts her head skywards and sees Oliver’s eyes boring into her but when he offers her his hand she takes that as an invitation to continue. She quickly works on rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, her fingertips just barely teasing the wisps of hair on Oliver’s arms and this time she can see the way they stand at attention.

“I don’t know what possessed you to wear a three piece suit,” Felicity says in exasperation. The silence between the two of them rattling her and she continues with her train of thought despite her better judgment. “If they think we have more money that we actually do they are going to double the price of rent. Hell we could even offend them for looking there.”

“I wanted to make a good impression,” Oliver says sheepishly. He is just so _honest_ in his words that Felicity pauses and looks up at him thoughtfully her head tilting to the side his slightly confused expression making her smile, “what now?”

“You’ve never done this before.”

“Look at apartments to rent with a… wife?” Oliver poses it as a question full of uncertainty, his cheeks are red in embarrassment. “No. I can’t say I have, Felicity.”

“Oh!” Felicity squeaks in surprise, they conveniently forgot to work out their cover stories. “Um maybe we just leave it up to assumption, it’s not like we’ll need actual documentations for this. We’ll just use a lot of the word ‘we’. I don’t think the landlord would even care to be honest.”

She prattles off an excuse, her heart hammering in her chest as Oliver nods in agreement but she looks away before she sees his crestfallen expression. She turns her focus back on his shirt sleeves and silently works on folding them up. She moves to the collar of the shirt and begins to unbutton the first few buttons but when her fingers graze his sternum Oliver coughs uncomfortably and her cheeks pink up in embarrassment.

She takes a step back and takes in her handy work, Oliver is looking at her with wide eyes as she nods in approval she raises on her tip toes, cursing her choice of ballet flat and ruffles his hair that is a tad longer than he usually wears it. It’s not until Oliver’s breath hitches at her proximity that she registers what exactly she was doing, yet again. She pulls back her hand as though she’s been burnt and looks at up at him sheepishly, but Oliver slight smile makes hers blossom and she grins at him proudly.

“Now you are a little bit more laid back, which I think these people will look for.”

“So you're going as newlyweds then?" Diggle quips from the front seat of the car, smirk gracing his features and Felicity _knows_ he’s purposely bringing up the conversation yet again.

Felicity narrows her eyes at him but before she can retort _Oliver_ speaks up first, “Like Felicity said. It’s none of her business.”

“Technically, I said she should not _ask_ ,” Felicity points out, at which Oliver simply rolls his eyes gesturing for her to get into the car. “I requested one of the apartments in the East wing which is where I was able to narrow down the trackers. According to google maps  -I can’t believe I had to resort to dated google maps to find images of these Villas-  it’s almost like a small little community with about  5 main buildings surrounding the main park and the apartments range from studio apartments to 3 bedrooms. If they were able to maintain them, it would be a nice place to live, but from the few pictures, the villas have seen better days.”

“You’re not actually going to be living there, Felicity.” Diggle points out on seeing her put out expression.

“Oliver Queen.” Felicity mutters almost in revelation, her mind no longer on the condition of the apartments but something else completely

“That’s not a good thought.” Diggle quips from the front seat looking at her questioningly through the rearview mirror Oliver is equally curious and concern at her random outburst.

“ _You_ would never consider slumming it in _Pinewood_.” Felicity bemoans. “We didn’t think this through, your family probably _funded_ the building of some of these communities back in the day. If you go in there looking for an apartment they might get suspicious, hell it could be a terrible botched version of Undercover Boss. They are going to _know_ we aren’t there to look at buildings. This undercover mission is failing before we even start.”

“I don’t know what that means, but we haven’t failed anything.” He places a hand on her bare knee making her jump in surprise at the gesture, but to her surprise he does not remove her hand but brushes her thumb against the curve of her knee, “everyone knows I lost my family’s company including the mansion and all the Queen family assets. It’s not a far stretch to think I’m downsizing my living situation.”

Felicity nods in agreement at his words, he _does_ have a point. She looks up at Oliver and her heart aches on seeing the turmoil on Oliver’s face. With Thea gone Felicity knows Oliver has been feeling guilty of the loss of everything his family ever owns. She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it lightly, gaining his attention and hopefully pulling him out of his mood. She knows there is nothing she can say to make it better, but the moment their eyes meet and the understanding crosses Oliver’s face, she can feel the way the tension leaves his body.

Oliver rubs his thumb over her knuckles and smiles at her gratefully. His eyes full of warmth and it’s not the first time she begins to question whether or not his words that faithful night had more truth to it than either of them have admitted. If that _kiss_ meant something to him, maybe even as much as it did to _her_.

He looks down at their clasped  hands for a moment, her fingers dwarfed by his much larger hand, she can feel the rough callouses of his fingertips against the soft palm of her hand. He moves his finger slowly against her, mimicking that anxious tick he usually has when he is eager to pick up his bow, and it’s not the first time she wishes she could read minds.

She wishes she could ask him what is going through his mind, but she knows that would be impossible, but she has never been one to back down from a challenge, so why would she start now?

“Oliver?” She ventures softly, but her voice seems to have pull Oliver from whatever trance he seems to have been and to her disappointment Oliver slips his hand out of hers and looks across as her with a strained smile.

“Thank you,” he murmurs just before he inches away from her and turns to face out of the window.

Felicity sighs softly as she mimics his own actions curling into herself, her head pressing lightly against the window, once again despite their close proximity she feels as though there are oceans between them.


	3. Chapter 2

By the time they arrive at the apartment complex Felicity seems much calmer than before the 30 minute drive, but that calm demeanor all but vanishes five minutes after they enter the main office of the apartment complex.

 

A tall, slim woman dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, with the company logo at the corner with the name Angela Gilbert written in bold greets them. She notices Oliver almost immediately and Felicity has a _terrible_ feeling about this entire ordeal before it even begins.

 

“Mr. Queen, I wasn’t aware that you would be visiting us today.” Angela says pleasantly, but Felicity can tell immediately that the woman is on edge about Oliver being here, “No one in your family has been by to visit the villas in a few years at least.”

 

It’s a low blow in Felicity’s opinion, she’s pretty sure the Queen’s aren’t able to keep up with all the places they have funded. Even if they did, the woman is quite aware of the current state of the Queen legacy, and Felicity instantly doesn’t like her on principle. Felicity can see the way it affects Oliver as well, by the way his fingers twitch next to her, but when he speaks his voice is steady and firm.

 

“I’m actually here to view apartments.” Oliver supplies, he then looks at Felicity and quickly backtracks, “actually...uh... _we_ are looking for an apartment.”

 

_“Try and sound a little bit more convincing.”_

 

Diggle’s dry tone echoes in their ear, she’d forgotten that Diggle was listening on the exchange incase they needed backup. Personally, she thinks Oliver is being a little bit too paranoid, but she knows when to pick her battles, and added back up is never a _bad_ thing.

 

Felicity can already see the scowl beginning to bloom on Oliver’s face and she quickly interjects, not only to cut off Oliver, but to fill the awkward silence that seems to have settled in the office. Angela is looking at them curiously, and Felicity knows they do _not_ need anyone suspecting anything less of them.

 

Felicity takes a step forward and holds out her hand to the woman, a smile plastered on her face, “Hi, Felicity Smoak. I spoke to you about the apartment, yesterday.”

 

“Ah yes, Ms. Smoak.” Angela says, taking Felicity’s outstretched hand to shake, but the taller woman’s eyes never leaves Oliver’s still form, “When we spoke I was under the impression I was looking for a one bedroom apartment. I’m afraid we don’t have any two bedrooms available.”

 

“Oh no, we’re looking for one _together_.”

 

“We’re married!”

 

Felicity whips her head around at Oliver’s remark, her eyes widening in surprise. Did they not _just_ agree on no labels? Oliver Queen having a secret _wife_ is not something that will stay under wraps for long. Felicity huffs softly, deciding to worry about _that_ matter later, she spins around to look at Angela who is now looking them suspiciously, their simultaneous outbursts not helping their cover at all.

 

_“Someone say something before the two of you blow your cover before you even start_.”

 

Diggle’s annoyed voice brings Felicity back to reality and she slides over to Oliver, hooking her hand through his that is now stiff at his side. She tries to catch his attention but he seems to be frozen and lost in his own thoughts. She looks at Angela and smiles widely, “ _we_ are looking for our first place together.”

 

Naturally, Angela’s gaze lowers to Felicity’s left hand, more specifically Felicity’s _bare_ left hand. “We’re trying to keep things on the down low. With all that’s been going on with Oliver...uh the family company, no need for more press up Oliver’s….uh business. It’s that right, _honey?_ ”

 

Felicity puts emphasis on the term of endearment, as she pats Oliver’s chest a little more forcibly than normal, in hopes to pull Oliver out of whatever stupor he seems to be in. Sure enough Oliver’s hand rises to grasp hers, stopping her from hitting him again. The feel of his warm fingers on hers causes her to take a sharp intake of breath, she was not expecting him to grab her hand, and leave their fingers intertwined at their sides.

 

“We were hoping to look at one of your units in the west wing. The studio apartment but with the added loft bedroom?” Oliver asks smoothly. He clearly is proud of himself for doing research on the Villas and part of Felicity hates that she finds it adorable. Adorable and Oliver Queen are not two things she would never put together, but yet here she is. “Preferably with the Starling City skyline.”

 

“No!” Felicity all but shouts, earning twin looks of surprise from Oliver and Angela, but also a displeased grunt from Diggle in her ear. “While the Starling City skyline is great, I think we’d rather have a view of the park. After living in the city for the past few years, we thought a view of the park would be the closest thing to a garden that we could get.”

 

Much to Felicity’s annoyance Angela takes in her request but then looks at _Oliver_ for confirmation. Oliver looks at Felicity briefly and she only smiles in return and he takes that hint and nods at Angela, “We’d like one with a balcony, if that is at all possible.”

 

“We do have one unit in particular available.” Angela says with a forced smile, “I’ll be right back.”

 

Once the woman slips into the back office, Oliver looks at Felicity curiously, “I thought the apartment was located in the west wing?”

 

“It is, but in the _north_ side, not the south.” Felicity corrects.

 

She looks down at their clasps hands and she feels the moment Oliver realizes they are still holding hands. His body tenses almost immediately, she tries to catch his eye, but his gaze is fixed on the door that Angela just slipped through. Felicity tries her best to ignore the pang in her chest at his refusal to meet her eyes, not understanding why he’s suddenly all closed off. Just as he’s about to release her hand, Angela walks back into the room and Oliver’s grip suddenly tightens around her fingers.

 

Angela looks at them curious for a brief moment before she gestures for them to follow her. They follow Angela in complete silence, Felicity acutely aware of her small hand wrapped in Oliver’s much larger one. It’s ridiculous, she’s held Oliver’s hand before, she should not be this tense over him holding hers. Then again, all the other times they were offering each other support in times of trouble, and it has never lasted _this_ long before, certainly not the way normal couples hold hands.

 

Not that they _are_ a couple.

 

This undercover assignment is messing with her head, and they haven’t even _done_ anything yet. She feels a small tug on her hand, and Felicity looks up startled, so lost in her own thoughts she didn’t even realized they were walking past the apartment complex’s main park that’s located within the centre of the estate. Angela is less than impressed with Felicity's wandering mind, but Oliver is only looking at her with concern.

 

“It’s beautiful.” Felicity says before she has time to even cast her eyes across the relatively large park, by her estimate the circumference of the park should be just about 1 mile or so.

 

But the park has clearly seen better days, it’s the beginning of summer, but yet the majority of the grass is brown and patchy, remnants of Starling’s latest winter evident, most of the trees however have caught and are full and green. The playground, which consists of a slide, seesaw and monkey bars though have seen better days.  

 

“We’ve had to cut back maintenance on the park in order for the tenants living here to afford it. With the possibility of people losing jobs and the current state of the city, we didn’t want to leave people homeless. Better to have a fully functioning apartment, than a park with new monkey bars, most kids these days are stuck behind those god awful tablets, anyway.”

 

Felicity bristles at Angela’s disdain towards technology, but Oliver’s slight tug on her wrist, reminds her why they are here in the first place. She narrows her eyes at him, and she can see the beginning of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but she decides to heed his silent warning, knowing that they need this woman in their good books anyway. “Would be able to see the apartment from here?”

 

Angela nods and points to one of the buildings to Felicity’s left, “Fourth one from the bottom.”

 

Felicity looks up at the balcony in question and she can see that there is a small banister separating one apartment from the other, there is next to no privacy between the two adjacent apartments. She looks at Oliver and sees his mind is already calculating all the various escape routes, or entrances to the apartments as the case may be. The apartment in question is on the fourth floor, right below the apartment they are going to look at, this they had at least discussed in the liar the night before. She only needs to be within 10 feet to get a direct link into the servers.

 

With her mind focused on their task at hand, she momentarily forgets the fact that she and Oliver are looking at apartments _together_ until they step into the small studio apartment.

 

The moment she steps into the small apartment she falls in love with the quaint little space almost immediately. It’s one main room, the kitchen and the living room only separated by a small island counter, but there is a double glass door that opens up to a small balcony and gives the room a bigger appearance. The high ceiling to accommodate the loft bedroom that Felicity can see right into from the front door, the wooden balcony that wraps around the loft gives little privacy, something she’s not particularly fond of.  But, it’s the small bay window off to the right of the patio doors, and next to the living room, that Felicity really loves. It forms a small nook that previous owner clearly installed book shells along the walls and their is a seat below the bay window and Felicity can already see herself getting lost in her work or books there.

 

“ _Oh_ , this is so cute!” Felicity all but squeals in delight.

 

Her hand slips through Oliver’s as she makes a beeline for the window nook as she looks at the small shelves in awe, her fingers trailing along the old wooden frame. A little bit of paint and the nook would look brand new, Felicity wrinkles her nose at the thought, she’s starting to sound like her mother.

 

“Ms... _Mrs._ Queen, don’t you want to look at the kitchen?”

 

Angela’s voice comes crashes through Felicity’s thoughts and it takes Felicity a while to realize that the woman is addressing _her._ Felicity scowls at the judgment in the woman’s tone, but plasters a smile on her face when she spins around to face them, and Oliver, who _is_ standing in the kitchen, takes a visible step back. Felicity would have genuinely smile at the action, glad that at least _someone_ was aware when she was about to use her ‘loud voice’, if she wasn’t already so annoyed

 

“Actually, I don’t cook.” Felicity replies with a fake smile, “As long as your apartments come equipped with an electrical socket to plug in my Keurig and microwave, I’m pretty much set.”

 

She’s a little bit more snappy than she needs to be, but Diggle’s soft laughter in her ear has her grinning for real this time, and when she turns to Oliver she can actually see him _bite_ his lip to keep from smiling.

 

She is aware of how _small_ this apartment truly is, when she realizes she can see the way his teeth sink into his bottom lip and she is taken back to 6 weeks ago of a stolen kiss in an abandoned mansion. She remembers the way those soft lips slanted against hers with the barest hint of pressure before the moment was torn from her, from _them_.

 

She flashes back to that kiss in the most inappropriate times these past few days. She blames the night Oliver, Roy and Helena rescued her from the Brother Blood. She has kept her distance from Oliver for _weeks_ until he bought her that bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and she bought him that _bed_. In hindsight, she probably should _not_ have bought him a bed of all things, but when she found him sleeping on the _floor_ of the foundary a few weeks ago, she couldn't just ignore that. To be more accurate it was a futon, so basically she bought him a bed under the disguise of a couch.

 

She bought him a bed and gave it to him as a ‘thank you’ for saving her life, despite the fact that they both know that he’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

 

He bought her a bottle of wine and although it sounds like the start of a cheesy romance novel; it was anything but. Oliver’s unreadable expression when she blundered over her gift was all but a slap to the face, don’t get he wrong, it’s not like he _rejected_ the gift, but he might as well have. He did however, readily agree to share the bottle of wine together, even _showing off_ when he opened it with just his bow and arrow, and yes Felicity was _thoroughly_ impressed, as well as turned on.

 

They shared a bottle of wine in small little plastic cups that were meant for drinking water in, not an entire bottle of wine. She woke up the next morning in the foundry with a vague recollection of the night’s events, Oliver mentioned nothing, but thus began the great hot and cold attitude Oliver seems to be giving her for the past week.

 

She’s been wanting to talk to him about it, maybe apologize if _she_ did anything wrong, but somehow Oliver has made sure they have not been alone _since_ that night.

 

“ _Felicity_.”

 

Felicity startles at the sound of her name, even more so when she realizes Oliver is now standing directly in front of her with a look of concern, his hands resting on her shoulders and squeezing them gently was what pulled her from her thoughts.

 

“Are you okay?” He asks with concern, he then looks off to his right and mutters under his breath, and to Diggle, “I told you. It was too soon for her to be in the field.”

 

“Hey! _She_ is standing right here and I’m fine.” Felicity all but growls at him, but she grabs him by the forearm, with the intent of moving him to the side, but the solid block of a man does not even budge. With a huff she leans forward and peers around him to look at Angela who is now watching them suspiciously, “Sorry, bad flashbacks of freshman year when I almost burned down my dorm.”

 

Angela blanches at the nonchalant way Felicity says this and her nose turns up, “We don’t cover fire damages in the lease.”

 

“Don’t worry Ms. Gilbert, I’ll be handling things in the kitchen.” Oliver turns around to face the other woman and tosses an arm lazily over Felicity’s shoulder, “Gotta make sure she takes care of herself.”

 

Felicity rolls her eyes at that comment and this time it’s only an added benefit for Angela, she knows fully well that comment was directed at her. Oliver is a closed book most of the time, but when it comes to her wellbeing the man is a subtle as a brick, she only wish he would be so open with her and his feelings _other_ than her safety.

 

“You cook, Mr. Queen?” Angela latches onto the first part of Oliver’s sentence and Felicity is almost certain if Felicity wasn’t standing here that the woman would be doing the same to _Oliver_.

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever burnt down a _house_.” Oliver teases, when Felicity looks up she can see he’s been looking at _her_ the whole time and Felicity can’t help but grin sheepishly.

 

“It was a dorm kitchen and I didn’t _burn_ anything down, there was just a _lot_ of smoke. Baby Smokey Smoak was my nickname all through freshman year. Eventually, it was just _Smoaky._ ”

 

“ _Baby?”_

 

Oliver’s eyes are twinkling now and he’s smiling at her in that way she hasn’t seen for while. It makes her heart flutter and she can’t stop the small blush rising to her cheeks as she continues her story, “that’s what happens when you’re the only sixteen year old in…”

 

_“Guys as entertaining as hearing stories about Smokey Smoak... the operation?”_

 

Diggle pulls them task at hand and Oliver takes a visible step away from Felicity and clears his throat as he looks across at Angela who is now looking at her phone, clearly uninterested in Felicity’s college experience.

 

“Ms. Gilbert, why don’t we go over numbers?” Oliver suggests taking a step towards the living area and pointedly _under_ the loft area where the bedroom is held. He then turns to Felicity and smiles, eyes casting the loft figuratively, “ _Honey_ , why don’t you check out the bedroom in the meantime?”

 

Felicity nods as she makes her way to the short flight of stairs just off the nook. The term of endearment certainly rolling off _his_ tongue much easier than it did hers, something she pointedly ignores as she pulls out her tablet and gets to work.

 

Due to their comms she can hear the hush words of Oliver and Angela’s conversation, Felicity can’t help but roll her eyes at the way the woman tries to steer the conversation away from the apartment.

 

Felicity tunes out the conversation as her fingers fly across her keyboard, but when Angela offers to show Oliver another apartment for sale, the suggestion _clear_ Felicity can’t help but scoff loudly, “desperate much?”

 

Diggles soft cough reminds Felicity that the boys can both hear _her_ and she bites back her groan of embarrassment. She frowns though when she comes up with a problem on her tablet, “Oliver... _honey?_ Can you come here a sec? I want to show you something?”

 

_“Cause_ _that didn’t sound suggestive at **all**.” _

 

“ _Roy!”_ Felicity hisses in horror, “where the hell are you?”

 

_“At the Arrow cave, wanted to check in on you guys make sure everything is going well. You did say you made these comms so easy anyone with half a brain could do it. I feel like I should have gotten popcorn ages ago, but I didn’t want to miss anything.”_

 

“Roy.”

 

This time it’s Oliver’s growl that comes out loud and clear on the comms just as he comes into view, Felicity can’t help but giggle when Oliver head almost touches the ceiling, “ _Honey_ , I think you might be too tall for this room.”

 

She purposely adds the suggestive tone as she raises her voice, Oliver’s eyes bulge in surprise and Roy’s laughter echoes around them. Felicity’s cheeks pink up yet again, but she does not regret it.

 

_“Claws out, Smoaky?”_

 

“We _just_ told the woman we were married. Oliver doesn’t need some scandalous affair to add on top of his failing company.” Felicity growls, she looks across at Oliver apologetically, “Sorry.”

 

Oliver sighs as he takes a seat on the bed next to her, “You’re not wrong. What did you want to show me? Or were you just…”

 

“Oh, no! I have a problem, a _real_ problem, not fake one.  I can’t get access, these buildings usually all use the same servers, and I was going to piggyback onto theirs, but I keep getting locked out. I’m going to need to get inside the apartment. This is _not_ a mediocre system, these people are _good_. Really good. It seems like they are the only apartment with its own internet servers.”

“The only way you can do that is if I actually _distract_ that woman. I’m not doing that.” Oliver says in disdain, Felicity’s heart flutters at his protest.

 

“We’re not actually married, Oliver,” Felicity points out softly, trying to bring logic back into the equation, the _honey_ fell way too easily from her lips earlier and she needs to reign in her feelings before they deceive her or worse she ends up getting hurt.

 

They need to get this information, and they both know she doesn’t need _that_ much time, but time nonetheless and after all they are undercover for a reason and she’s getting way too comfortable on this mission.

 

“She doesn’t know that and you’re right I don’t need another scandal, to add to the list.”

 

“It’s bad enough that we don’t know if that woman is now telling the world about your ‘secret’ wife.” Felicity mutters, when she sees Oliver’s horrified expression she quickly raises her hand, “I’ll take care of it, if it goes viral.”

 

“Felicity, I’m more concern with _your_ name going down with that.” Oliver confesses and he reaches across to grab her hand

 

“Oh.” Felicity squeaks in surprise, she’s unsure if it’s at the contact or his words.

 

_Crash_.

 

They both jump back in surprise when a loud crash emits from the comms, followed by Roy’s soft curses.

 

“ _Roy Harper_ , tell me you were not drinking soda by my computers.” Felicity growls, “If I get back there and there is even a splash of…”

 

_“Okay, the two of you have been up there for too long. You’ll be having another kind of scandal if you don’t go back downstairs.”_

 

This time both Oliver _and_ Felicity cheeks pink up and Diggle’s less than subtle hint and they both look down at the tablet in Felicity’s lap.

 

“You can’t go in there without us casing the place.” Oliver counters; for once his ability to deflect is welcomed. “We need to know who is in there and more importantly how many people are in there. We’re going to need more time.”

 

His tone is filled with foreboding and an uneasy feelings settles low in Felicity’s gut, she just knows what his next words are going to be and she closes her eyes momentarily bracing for what’s to come.

 

“Ms. Gilbert?”

 

They both frown when they don’t get a response, Oliver looks over the balcony to see the apartment empty. Once Felicity packs up her things they make their way down the small flight of stairs, which can only hold them one at a time.

 

“Ms. Gilbert?”

 

The sliding doors open suddenly and Angela pokes her head in, phone to her ear, “I’m sorry, I had to take a call. Everything all right with the apartment?”

 

Oliver looks across at Felicity and she can see the uncertainty in his eyes, but once she nods her head he turns to Angela, “We’ll take it.”


	4. Chapter 3

She stands at the entrance to the loft dressed a ratted, old overall and a white and black polka dot crop top, her go to attire for moving days. She can’t believe this is her life right now, three weeks ago her biggest concern was balancing both of her jobs. She admits now, that her day job was suffering  _ terribly _ because of her night job and never really fully appreciated the benefits of  working with your boss both in the daytime and the night, until now. Suffice to say she’s not  _ terribly _ surprised at being fired from Kord Industries, although she takes offense in her former boss relaying the message  _ through _ her friend, and firing a kidnapped woman in the first place.

 

Speaking of said  _ friend _ , things between them had  _ finally _ gone back to normal and then she had to go and get kidnap,  _ then _ share a bottle of wine. _ Now _ , things are awkward and to make matters worse she and Oliver are not only fake  _ married _ , but also living together. 

 

She’s never lived with a  _ boy _ before, like at  _ all.  _ She’s almost certain she does not want to learn the intimate details of living with a man from Oliver Queen. Okay, that’s a  _ lie _ , but their already fragile relationship -  _ friendship-  _ does not need to be tested by them being in close quarters like this. 

 

She looks up at the tiny bedroom loft, the small living room/dining room combo, they are practically going to be on top of each other and  _ not _ in the good way. 

 

“Smoaky, if you aren’t going to help at least move out of the way.” Roy’s low grunt behind her has Felicity jumping in surprise. She turns to yell at him but stops when she sees him struggling with one of her boxes.

 

“Oh! Be careful with that! Just put it on the floor here I have to find space for it somewhere.” She bites her lip and scans the small apartment slightly put out by the lack of space.

 

“Is this a  _ rock _ collection? What the hell do you even have in here, Smoaky?”

 

Felicity glares at Roy, ever since the day he inadvertently heard that story he’s gone out of his way to call her that Felicity is just about ready to throttle him. “They are my computers, so  _ please _ try not to drop them.”

 

The request sounds pleasant enough, but Roy is smart enough to know that it's layered with a threat and the younger man just nods his head and hauls the box towards the living room, the only place left in the small, apartment to fit it.

 

“Felicity,” Oliver voice is full of exasperation but still slightly out of breath as he deposits another box onto the lone kitchen counter. Of course today of all days the elevators stop working. The boys are bare chested at this point as they haul box after box. 

 

Not that Felicity is complaining in the slightest, she made a slight quip about the vigilante-ing having paid off and she doesn't think they appreciated her joke. She wipes her dirty hands on the sides of her shorts and looks across at Oliver just in time to see him divert his eyes away from her legs.  So maybe her short overalls that she's had since she was 19 were not the best thing to wear but it's her go to moving outfit and the 90 degree weather is not helping anything either.

 

When she sees Oliver close his eyes and  _ lick _ his lips, her body heats up at the thought that she pulled  _ that  _ reaction from him. “Is  _ all _ that really necessary?”

 

She freezes at his words, but then realizes he’s not talking about her outfit, but her box of computers that Roy is now going through. She stalks over to Roy, momentarily ignoring Oliver and his stupid face and slapping the younger man’s shoulder before she yanks the two keyboards from his hands and then spins around to face Oliver, “Did I begrudge you for bringing your toys?”

 

She gestures to his trunk that holds his old bow and arrows, that is taking up the entirety of the coffee table. Oliver grunts, “I seem to remember you complaining about it when you brought it up here.”

 

“We’re in the suburbs, Oliver. You can’t go shooting that thing all willy nilly.”

 

“I’m not going to….where do you plan on even putting those computers?”

 

“Wow, you two really got that married thing down.”

 

“Shut up, Roy.”

 

Roy raises his hands and backs away from Felicity who is closer to him, and Felicity is not above slapping her friend for his comment. His running commentary has been going on since the boys came to her apartment to collect her stuff and Felicity suspects she’s just taking out her nervousness of living with Oliver 24/7 on Roy.

 

“Alright, this is the last of it.” Diggle calls out, the distraction very much welcomed as he rolls two of Felicity’s suitcases into the apartment.

 

“Great!” Felicity says with a loud clap, “If this was the 50s...or you know if I could  _ cook _ , I’d offer to whip something up for you boys in return. But, since it is not and I’m certainly  _ not _ Chef Smoak. I ordered pizza, our usual and it should be here soon.”

 

“I wish I could, but Lyla and I have a doctor’s appointment in an hour.” Diggle apologizes, but Felicity can see the smile tugging at his lips and her friend’s excitement is evident.

 

“Are you going to find out the sex?” Felicity asks eagerly, “I got a lotta money riding on the team betting pool.”

 

“What betting pool? Why didn’t I know about this? I want in.” 

 

“There is no betting pool.” Oliver answers, his tone full of exasperation but he’s smiling at Felicity, his amusement obvious.

 

“Well no, but if there was one, I’d be winning.” Felicity replies cheekily. She sticks her tongue out at Oliver playfully and earns a short laugh at her childish behaviour. 

 

“Okay, I’m gonna go. I’ll text if we find out, and you two call me if you get any leads on your neighbours.” Diggle says as he grabs his worn t-shirt hanging over the lone couch in the room. 

 

He sends Oliver a pointed look at which Oliver nods in return and Felicity is beginning to suspect something is going on there and she’s almost 100% certain it’s about her. 

 

“I’m out as well.” Roy grabs his own t-shirt tugging it over his head, shrugging his shoulders at Felicity’s disappointed look, “Sorry Smoaky, I’m not third wheeling today. I promised Mrs. Grey at the youth centre I’d help out today.”

 

“I’ll drop you off.” Diggle offers as he makes his way to the front door not before waving off Oliver and Felicity.

When the front door slams shut, the apartment is filled with eerie silence, Oliver stands in the kitchen, his hands resting on the closed boxes, fingers tapping against it silently.

“And then they were two.” Felicity quips breaking the tension, offering Oliver a small smile.

When Oliver doesn’t respond Felicity sighs softly to herself and moves to the balcony, nudging open the glass door slightly. The scorching summer heat hits her in the fact and she winces quickly closing the door once again, “It’s so hot.”

“The apartment should cool down now that we aren’t coming and going anymore.” 

It’s the slight hesitation in his tone that has Felicity turning around to face him and looks at him questioningly. Oliver’s fingers curl against the countertop as he shifts from one foot to the other and Felicity suspects she is not going to like what he has to stay.

“You know you don’t have to stay here. I can case out the place and then once everything is fine I can call you…” 

He trails off when Felicity stalks over to the counter and now stands directly opposite him, only the counter to separate them and Felicity takes perverse pleasure in watching him visibly flinch, “Oliver, do you remember what we talked about yesterday?

“You said that if you ever wanted to leave the team that I’d be the first to know and until then I’m not allowed to make decisions for you.”

He prattles off her words almost word for word that it throws Felicity off slightly, she never expected him to pay attention that closely. However, when Oliver looks away slightly troubled Felicity’s frustration dissipates almost immediately, she sighs and stretches her hand over the counter to clasp Oliver’s hand tugging it lightly, forcing him to look at her, “Oliver, nothing is going to happen to me. I know what happened last week spooked you but…”

“Felicity, you were missing for  _ four _ days, two of those I didn’t even  _ know _ you were missing.” Oliver confesses, his voice cracking slightly and his grip tightens around her fingers, “It didn’t spook me. I’ve never been so  _ scared _ in my life. After Slade...after I used you as  _ bait _ , I made a promise to myself I’d  _ never _ put you in that situation again. Then, not even a month later and you go missing and it took me two  _ days _ to even realize something was wrong and I…”

“Oliver, that wasn’t your fault.” Felicity implores. She moves from behind the counter and walks towards him, their hands still clasped, “Blood was out for...well  _ blood _ since I was sharing his money like Halloween candy. Not that I  _ deserved _ to have my apartment completely ransacked and then tied up for days at end. The only one to blame was  _ them _ , no one else. Did it ever occur to you that I threw myself into the latest problem, because I didn’t want to be at home longer than I needed too?  Why do you think I agreed to this so easily?”

“ _ Felicity _ .” Oliver voice hitches on her name, his hand moving up her bare arm leaving goosebumps in its wake as he grasps her shoulder and takes a step closer to her, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Felicity shrugs sheepishly, she did not expect the first few minutes of ‘living’ together that she would open up to him about  _ this _ of all things. She promised she’d keep it to herself as to not worry him and get that very look of concern he has on in face now, “I knew you stuck around when you’d take me home this past week and I’d try and fall asleep before you left…”

It sounds ridiculous even when she says it out loud, but Oliver only sighs out her name and unexpectedly pulls her into a hug. She lets out a soft squeak of surprise, but wraps her arms around his waist and sinks into his embrace. This goes beyond the invisible boundaries they have set since that kiss in the mansion, but Felicity doesn’t care, for the first time in days that tightening in her chest that she had been experiencing from her kidnapping has lessened. “It’s stupid...I know...I’ve been kidnapped before…”

“Hey, no! It’s not stupid and I would never want you to get  _ use _ to being kidnapped.” Felicity only nods pressing her nose against his chest and that’s when she realizes that Oliver is very much shirtless and her face is resting on his very  _ naked  _ chest. “It’s different because this happened at home, the other two times, you were at the office and then you  _ knew _ it was happening. This was different, it’s expected that you’d have trouble with it. After all of this is sorted out, we’ll think up something to help, okay?”

“Okay.” Felicity whispers softly. They stand like that in the middle of  _ their _ home and in another lifetime, Felicity could imagine this tiny little space being their first home, she shakes her head freeing it from  _ those _ kind of thoughts and instead says the first thing that pops in her mind, “You’re  _ really _ sweaty.”

Felicity closes her eyes, not believing that out of all the things she could have said  _ that _ is what came out. It’s not a lie though, she can feel the sweat running down the hard contours of Oliver’s back and the rough edges of one of his scars against her fingertips. Oliver only huffs out a short laugh in response. She pulls back slightly to look him in the eye and he’s smiling down at her, his eyes almost twinkling with mirth and she can’t help but smile in return. She can feel the way his thumb brushes against the small span of bare skin between her overalls and crop top. The rough edges of his thumb sending a jolt of warmth through her body, and she has to remind herself to breathe.

“I wished you would smile more.” She confesses softly, she feels the moment he tenses in her arms and she’s immediately regretting her decision, before she could backtrack do  _ something _ there is a knock on the door.

_ “Pizza _ !”

“Ah cheesy goodness has arrived.” Felicity blurts out already slipping out of Oliver’s arms, her cheeks red as she grabs her handbag, making sure not make eye contact with Oliver who is still standing in the kitchen lost in thought.

She opens the door and smiles warmly at pizza boy who looks no older than 17 holding two pizzas in his hand, but when the kid sees Felicity his eyes bug out and he releases a low whistle, “Damn girl, you plan on eating all this by yourself? Or do you want company?”

Felicity narrows her eyes, she’s about to take the punk ass kid down a notch or  _ ten _ , when she feels a hand on her waist and the solid weight of Oliver behind her. “Is this how you treat all your customers,  _ Brian? _ Or do I need to call your manager and ask him?”

By the end of his question the scrawny kid is practically shaking in his converse, his head moving from side to side, and he’s shoving both boxes into Felicity’s empty hands. She barely is able to offer him the cash, before the kid plucks a 10 from her hand and runs off. 

“You forgot the rest of your money!” Felicity calls out, but Brian is already flying down the hallway. She frowns, pizza still in her hands, she turns on her heels and narrows her eyes at Oliver, “What did you do?”

“Felicity, you were  _ right _ there. You heard what I said.” Oliver points out as he takes the pizza from her hand and moves to the counter in the kitchen. “Besides, it’s better I scare him than you find out the kid’s name and destroy his credit score.”

Felicity scowls when she’s Oliver smirking at her knowingly, “What credit score? He looked like 17 at most.”

“So you  _ were _ thinking about a silent attack then?” Oliver teases.

Felicity scrunches up her nose but only huffs in response earning a small laugh from Oliver. It’s such a rare thing to see that she doesn’t bother to press the issue and only holds out her hand to accept the plate filled with her specific slice of pizza. 

The pizza is halfway to her mouth when she realizes she’s holding a  _ plate _ in her hand, not some disposable ones that she tossed into one of her boxes. The apartment came fully furnished minus kitchen utensils such as pots and pans and they’d agree to just bring the necessities of clothes, ceramic plates were certainly not from  _ her _ apartment. 

“We have plates.” She says stupidly, she holds up the plate to examine it properly, “How do we have plates?”

Oliver chuckles again wiping his mouth with a napkin, when did they even get  _ napkins _ Felicity doesn’t even remember the last time she did groceries. “I took some kitchen stuff out of storage. After we lost the house I started packing some of my mother’s favourite things in storage.”

“This is  _ china _ ?” Felicity asks scandalized as she raises the plate higher to inspect it, her plate that has melted cheese dripping along the edges, “Oliver, are we eating  _ pizza _ on your mother’s $500 plate?”

Oliver only shrugs his shoulders nonchalant as he resumes eating his pizza, “I hardly think it was $500 a plate.”

“ _ Oliver _ , so  _ not  _ the point.” Felicity says in exasperation, but takes a bite into her pizza nonetheless.

“We probably need to make a list of things we need and make a trip to the grocery.” Oliver says thoughtfully as he goes for his second slice, “I don’t think the pizza would last more than today.”

Felicity pauses from going for  _ her _ second slice and looks at him incredulously, “Who  _ are _ you?”

To her surprise Oliver only smiles sheepishly in return, “It’s been awhile since I’ve had something more than an office fridge and you know a kitchen to fill.”

“You cook?” Felicity asks curiously. 

This time Oliver only smiles in embarrassment at her question, “When I first got back from the island, I’d help Raisa cook some meals and I realized it...it was calming for me.”

She rests her elbow on the counter and leans forward to listen and her movement seems to have encouraged Oliver to open up more. He takes a seat on the stool and spins it to face her, their knees knocking as he gets comfortable. “I tried to keep at it for a while, but after Tommy, then Slade…I guess I never saw the point. It’s boring to cook for myself as well.”

“I guess we are both using this arrangement for something.” Felicity whispers. Oliver’s blue eyes are piercing into her and it’s the first time in weeks they have been so honest with each other, and she’s always wondering if she pushed him more than he wanted.

“We could have done worse.”

She almost huffs in offense until she sees the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and she realizes he’s  _ teasing _ her. She then narrows her eyes at him for a brief moment, before she tilts her head and takes in his entire form, her eyes roaming his body from head to toe, her intent clear.  She then shrugs her shoulder being nonchalant as possible,“Eh.”   

To her surprise though, Oliver does not laugh instead his eyes bore into hers and her breath hitches when she feels Oliver’s calf rub against her own his next words almost making her drop his mother’s $500 plate. “There isn’t anything better.”

Her cheeks flame instantaneously at his remark, and she wonders if Oliver just realized what he implied. He basically said that he couldn’t get a better  _ wife _ than her. But in true Oliver Queen fashion he only smiles at her and then goes about his business like he never said anything. He slips off of the stool and makes his way to their two door fridge fixing them both drinks, which was really just iced water because they had nothing else in the apartment.

“C’mon finish your pizza and then we’ll look for somewhere to put your computers.” Oliver says with a smile as he offers her a drink. 

After they had their pizza both she and Oliver argued for over an hour trying to figure out where to put her computers, in the very little space they already had. There was some snapping and some growling (Oliver obviously being the latter) until Felicity just threw up her hands in defeat and stalked up to the loft to make the bed and just unpack most of her things. By the time she washed her hair and took a good long shower she was feeling much better and ready to apologize to Oliver for snapping at him. 

She walks down the narrow flight of stairs leading from the loft and comes to a halt at the sight that greets her by the little nook on the right. Oliver removed the large cushion in the nook and placed her three computer screens along with her two keyboards. He then used the large cushion that was there and placed it on the small coffee table, making it into a makeshift seat for Felicity to sit on.

She never expected Oliver to actually find a space for her computers though, to say she’s surprised would be an understatement. She stands at the foot of the stairs, looking at Oliver’s handy work with a smile. She turns on her heel to see Oliver’s busy tightening the string on his old bow.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Felicity says, already feeling guilty for snapping at Oliver earlier.

Oliver only gives her pointed look in return and Felicity gives him a sheepish grin they both know she can't possibly do her job if she doesn't have her computers. Okay, that's a lie she could do it once she has her tablet and wifi but this instance she needs more than that.

She moves to the love seat to sit next to Oliver but frowns when she sees the ratty grey blanket Oliver usually keeps on the cot at the lair. “So are you taking shifts with various parts of your body in order to sleep on this couch?”

“What?” Oliver asks in confusion.

“Ugh, that sounded so much wittier in my head.” Felicity says sheepishly. “You can't possibly fit on that couch. We’ll share the bed.”

“Felicity, you don’t have to….I don’t want you to be uncomfortable after…” Oliver trails trails off his cheeks turning slightly rosie in embarrassment.

Felicity knows immediately where his train of thought is going and she’d be damned if he uses their kiss as an excuse like this. She raises her hand to cut him off before he says something she’s not ready to hear. “Oliver, it’s fine. We’re friends, we can share a bed without things being weird. That  _ fake _ kiss was ages ago, we both agreed that is was all for the ruse, it’s no big deal.  _ This _ is no big deal.”

She’s protesting far too much for her to actually sound convincing, and if she wasn’t looking at Oliver she probably would have missed the pinched look he had on his face before he looked away. But, as with most things, her brain can’t seem to control her mouth, and she ploughs on through never missing a beat. “I didn’t buy you a proper bed last week, for you to end up playing human pretzel on this couch.  _ I _ can’t even fit comfortably on this thing. We’ll share the bed.”

“Okay.” His agreement comes so easily, so  _ swiftly _ that Felicity almost snaps her neck when she looks across at him in surprise, but Oliver’s face is unreadable as he rises to his feet. “I’m going to take a shower and then head to bed.”

His voice is low and detached and he refuses to make eye contact with her. Felicity frowns in confusion as she watches him make his way of the narrow staircase, and all she can do is echo his earlier words, “ ‘kay.”

Once he disappears into the loft bedroom, she collapses against the couch releases a soft huff in annoyance, unsure what brought on the latest cold shoulder treatment. By the time she eats dinner and heads upstairs to the loft bedroom Oliver is already on the side of the bed closest to the stairs and fast asleep. She slips into her side of the bed hoping that tomorrow will be different.


	5. Chapter 4

Oliver wakes with a start the heat of the loft almost stifling him until the smell of coconuts overtake his senses. It’s only then does he realize the heat he’s experiencing isn’t the summer heat that seems to have hovered in the loft bedroom, but instead it’s the warm body that’s flushed against him. His entire body tenses in surprise, he can feel the tips of blonde hair tickling his nose, and sure enough as his eyes adjust to the dark room he can just barely make out a mass of messy blonde hair and he finds himself taking in a deep breath yet again.  The familiar and comforting smell of coconut and something that’s uniquely Felicity warms him to the core.

He can feel Felicity’s face pressed against his chest, her cold nose rubbing against his bare skin as he feels small puffs of air as she breathes. She’s dead to the world, he knows it by the way she scuffles every few breaths. Felicity has been known to fall asleep in the foundry more often than not, and sometimes on slow nights when he and Dig would come back from parole they’d find her curled up over her desk, using an old hoodie of hers as a pillow. Sometimes, she would startle awake the moment their feet hit the landing, other times it takes them four - sometimes five times - to rouse her and almost always when she’s dead to the world, she’s snoring softly.

The few rare nights when it’s just the two of them and Oliver would get back to find her sleeping, he’d sit and watch her for a while, almost mesmerized by the way her nose wrinkles as she sleeps. He’d even take off her glasses for her and let her catch some shuteye before he wakes her.

In hindsight, he should have realized he was a goner the moment he started watching her  _ sleep.  _ He’s playing with fire, he knows it but yet he can’t seem to step away. For seven years he’s pride himself in his self-control and his ability to compartmentalize his feelings, but one little kiss and suddenly everything he’s learned, everything that was forced on him, goes right out the window.

He knows its wrong, these feelings he has for Felicity, feelings he’s almost spilled more times than he cares for. This life he chose, this does not allow for those feelings and he  _ knows _ that, but what’s worse is that she’s aware of it now and he’s unsure how long he can keep her at a distance.

Things were going great until she got kidnapped  _ again _ , after the island, after he didn’t deny her claims, didn’t  _ admit _ to anything either, but things were going well for them. She started a new job, was excited at the prospects and he was happy for her. He was good with the new status quo between them and although he would find himself thinking back on that kiss in the most inappropriate of times, he was still able to keep things to himself and appear like that kiss was all in the past. But then, Felicity would do something or say something and he would spiral all over again.

He’d see Felicity nibbling on one of her pens in the foundry and he’d flashback to the feel of her soft lips against his, and the soft little sigh she made when he pressed his lips more firmly against hers.

It happened at the most inappropriate of times, but more often or not he’d be on his way out to parole and take his frustration out on unsuspected criminal or Felicity would be on  _ her _ way out to work or home and he’d be left alone to deal with it  _ another _ way.

It wasn’t healthy, he  _ knew _ that but it was the best he could do.

However, everything changed when Felicity was kidnapped last week. Not only did the guilt he felt of not even realizing she was missing for  _ two  _ days, but just the thought of her being taken from him terrified him to his very core and it was in that moment he realized he could not ignore his feelings.

He’d even make a silent promise to himself that he’d finally tell her how he felt. It was a promise out of sheer desperation and just something to hold on to, even though he knew that exchanging himself for her safety was practically a suicide mission on its own.

When she was safely back with them, he decided to that celebrating her return was the perfect excuse to break out that bottle of wine he had promised her. He’d had hid in his old trunk  _ months _ ago when he finally was able to get a bottle of it, but just never knew when would be the right time to give it to her. Celebrating her return seemed the best way to right his wrongs from her  _ last _ kidnapping and he’d hope that he’d be able to finally tell her how he felt.

As with most of his best laid plans, that involve Felicity, they go nothing like he hoped.

On one hand Oliver was glad to get that off his chest, even if Felicity wasn’t awake for it, on the other hand he’s glad that she did fall asleep, he suspects that confessing his love for her while they were both under the influence of wine is just as bad as confessing it while trying to fool an evil, vindictive son of a bitch.

Oliver’s body tenses when he feels Felicity arm land across his lower abdomen, her fingers curling into the waistband of his shorts and she tugs her body closer to his.

The loft was still far too warm for Oliver to wear a t-shirt but he had at least pulled on a shorts over his boxer-briefs knowing they would be sharing a bed, what he didn’t expect was for Felicity to be in similar attire including a thin tank top. He’d gone to bed earlier than her feigning exhaustion  _ just _ to avoid seeing her get ready for bed. He felt as though watching Felicity do something as intimate as getting ready for bed would be to imposing. Maybe it was just too much for him to handle, or maybe it was just is way of putting distance between them after Felicity declared that the kiss they shared was just no more than a ruse, a fake out to get Slade’s attention.

All this time Oliver assumed that she thought it was more, he thought she felt the same way that he did, and maybe she did. Maybe, she  _ did _ feel the same way, but then Oliver took too long to do something about it and now she’s moved on, now he’s lost his chance.

He’s too late.

He can feel the curve of her breasts pressing against the jagged edge of one of his scars, but what causes his breath to catch in his throat is when Felicity tosses a long leg over his hip, slipping it between both his legs. He can feel her bare knee pressing into his inner thigh, her equally bare calf rubbing against his own, sending jolts of pleasure through his body, and Oliver can’t control the way his body reacts even if he wanted to.

He needs to ease out from under her grasp, move her to her side of the bed and put some distance between them, but despite knowing this he’s yet to move almost as though his body is drawn to hers like opposite poles of a magnet. He knows he should move, but his body seems to only crave her warmth.

“Mhmm…cheesecake.” Felicity mutters softly against his chest and although all he can see is a mop of messy blonde hair Oliver is almost certain that he can hear her smacking her lips and he can’t hold back his laughter this time, shaking them both.

“Oliver?” Felicity whispers, her voice laden with sleep as she rubs her nose against chest.

“Go back to sleep.” Oliver soothes, his hand awkwardly rubbing her back and once again he’s reminded how out of his element he truly is.

His entire body tenses as he waits for her to come to her senses and freak out on him, but to his great relief Felicity only murmurs incoherently before she slips back into slumber.

He takes that cue to gently ease Felicity off of his chest and moves her to her side of the bed. His fingers linger on her cheekbone as he watches the way her nostrils flare as she snores softly.

He once again finds himself getting lost in watching her sleep and with a heavy heart he puts further distance between them realizing that his one sided feelings for her is probably for the best. He can’t possibly give her what she deserves and he decides that he’s going to have to try harder to bury these feelings that are clearly one sided.

For the first time ever Oliver is grateful for all times he’s learned to bury his emotions on the island.

* * *

 

**_One Week Ago._ **

_ Felicity eyes widen as the cork flies off the bottle, the moment the arrow hit its target still has Oliver grinning from ear to ear even after they both took a seat on the newly purchased bed, which was more like a futon couch, long enough to fit Oliver’s tall frame. _

_ “We don’t have wine glasses, I hope this will do?” Oliver asks suddenly nervous as he holds up two green plastics cups that are usually used at parties. _

_ Felicity had bought a water cooler into the foundry the previous year and when she found the green plastic cups she was so tickled by it that she continued to buy them for the team. _

_ “My mother would probably be appalled that I’m even drinking wine in a plastic cup, but she’d let it pass if she knew the company I was sharing it with.” Felicity says with ease. She then pulls back and looks at the cup in horror, the cup she has yet to take a sip from. “Jesus, I haven’t even taken a sip yet and already I’m being inappropriate.” _

_ “You’re fine.” Oliver says with a small laugh and holds up his cup to hers, “Cheers?” _

_ “What are we toasting to?” She asks curiously, her blue eyes clear and bright. _

_ Oliver falters at her question, now is his moment, she gave him the perfect opening to get the ball rolling, but he takes one look at her eyes all warm and inviting and immediately clamps up. Felicity seems to take pity on his lack of words and smiles at him. “To my partner who always has my back, no matter what.” _

_ Oliver’s heart clenches at her words, the guilt that has been festering deep in him rearing its ugly head once again. He doesn’t feel like the best partner in the world, not after it took him  _ **_two_ ** _ days to realize she was even missing and almost twice as long to find her. He doesn’t deserve her praise, but he takes one look at her hopeful expression and he knows he can’t find it in himself to crush her like that. She’s been through too much for Oliver to bring her down with his doom and gloom, as she so affectionately calls it when she finds him brooding. _

_ “To partners.” Oliver echoes this plastic cups knocking together. _

_ Oliver watches as Felicity swishes the cups a few times and then takes a tentative sip, his own cup forgotten as he is mesmerized by the long expanse of her neck as she tips her head back and swallows the wine. A soft moan just barely escapes her lips as she savors the taste, humming in approval, that moan causing Oliver’s blood to rush south almost immediately, and he can feel his face heat up. Oliver takes a sip of his own wine, hoping he can at least pass his flush features on the alcohol and not his reaction to Felicity. _

_ “Oh! This is the stuff.” Felicity moans out in delight, “I’m not even sorry at the poor excuse of wine glasses. Like I know that this kind of wine should not be drunk out of beer cups, but honestly this wine speaks for itself.” _

_Oliver only chuckles in response, watching as Felicity takes a generous sip of her wine every few words. He barely touches his own, more content on watching Felicity enjoy it, if he had known_ ** _this_** _was the kind of reaction he’d get for getting her the bottle; he would have tried to spring for an entire case like he’d lied about initially._

_ “You know, at the rate we are going with putting the bad guys away, you might actually be out of  _ **_this_ ** _ job too.” Felicity says thoughtfully as she holds up her cup for Oliver to top up. _

_ Oliver knows immediately that the wine is giving her a loose tongue otherwise she would have been a bit remorseful for her comment. Instead, she’s leaning against the back of the futon her now full cup already to her lips as she looks up at him with smile. _

_ “I’ve been talking to Walter lately, he’s giving me a few pointers to win the board over.” Oliver admits quietly, he hasn’t told anyone his plans to regain his family’s company and this time actually do the work that’s required of him. _

_ “Oh yay!” Felicity says excitedly, clapping her hands, but then giggles when some of the wine sloshes in the cup. “I was hoping you’d decided to grab the bull by its horns, so to speak, and take back your family’s company…and I’m not just saying this as a newly unemployed IT expert.” _

_ “I may not be qualified for the job, but it’s my family’s company I can’t just let it go.” Oliver confesses as he sinks into the futon next to her. _

_ “Nope. No can do.” Felicity shakes her in negative, agreeing with him wholeheartedly, she then sits up looking at him eagerly, still drinking her wine, “I know! I’ll help you. I’ll train you to be a corporate master of the universe.” _

_ Oliver grins at her offer, he knows it’s partially the wine but he also thinks the wine is affecting  _ **_him_ ** _ when he finds himself nodding in agreement as he takes a sip of his own wine. “Think you’re up for the challenge? I’ve been told that I’m not a very good student.” _

_ The words tumble out of his mouth before he can catch himself. He’s flirting with her, he and Felicity rarely flirty, and certainly not with  _ **_him_ ** _ initiating it. He looks at her nervously, but the tension eases out of his body when he sees her smiling up at him, her pupils are dilated, her cheeks flushed and he knows that this cup is going to be her last one. _

_ “You didn’t have  _ **_me_ ** _ for a teacher though. You’ll fine I can be very convincing.” Felicity says coyly, and Oliver almost spills his cup in surprise. Felicity then breaks out into giggles and looks at her cup accusingly, “Wine, you’re always my BFF until you throw me under the bus. Friendship. Over.” _

_ This time Oliver doesn’t even hold back his laughter at her disgruntled expression. He’s seen many facets of Felicity, from stubborn, babbling, brilliant and brave, but he thinks drunk Felicity might be his new favourite. _

_ He wants nothing more that to continue this conversation, but he also knows he doesn’t want to encourage her especially when she’s in this state, not wanting her to embarrass herself in front of him. _

_ “I’ll hold you to that, Miss Smoak.” _

_ Apparently he can stop her from embarrassing herself, but he failed to realize that he needed to stop himself. He looks across at her about to apologize but stops when he sees her eyes are closed and her cheek is nuzzling the soft material of the futon. _

_ “I bought the futon incase you in case you refused the bed, it could be disguised as a couch.” Felicity whispers her confession, her nose scrunching up as though she’s telling him a secret. “Bought it two weeks ago when I realized you were sleeping in the Arrow cave. You saving my life was just the perfect excuse to use as a thank you gift. You make being your friend so difficult, sometimes.” _

_ Her voice is low now and the sadness stabs at Oliver’s chest and before he can stop himself he’s shifting closer to her, his voice matching her own as he speaks, “I’m sorry.” _

_ “S’okay, you’re worth it.” Felicity whispers. _

_ Her eyelashes flutter as she peers up at him shyly, her nose rubbing against the soft material of the futon Oliver can already tell she’s beginning to fade. He takes the empty cup from her hands, the soft tips of her fingers grazing against his skin and sending a jolt through his body as he pulls the cup from her. She sighs softly in protest, but only rubs her nose, not fighting Oliver for taking her wine. If Oliver’s face wasn’t inches away from Felicity’s he would have missed her next words. “I wish you realized that.” _

_ “Felicity…I…I’m trying.” He confesses, his eyes are trained on the pink tinted lipstick stain on Felicity’s cup as he speaks, not having the courage to look at her as he speaks. “I know I can be…difficult at times. I don’t want you to think your efforts are for nothing…I’m trying to be better. I want to be better...for you.” _

_ When he finally plucks up the courage to look at her, he falters when he sees that her face is pressed into the back of the futon, her mouth slightly parted as she sleeps soundly. Her glasses are slightly skewed but Oliver can’t help but smile at how adorable she looks, even as a small bit of drool makes its way down the corner of her mouth. _

_ Oliver slips the glasses off her face and then tucks a stray bit of blond hair behind her ear, his thumb just barely grazing against her cheek as he whispers softly into the stillness of the foundery. “I think I’m in love with you.” _

* * *

 

The sun shines down over the bed, slowly pulling her from her slumber. Thoughts of cheesecake are the first things that comes to her and she sniffs the air softly, her sleep laden mind still slightly confused. Felicity feels a heavy arm over her torso, rough fingertips pressed against her bare stomach, hidden beneath her tank top. She feels the heat of Oliver’s body radiating behind her, his leg nestled between hers the coarse hairs on his legs tickle her bare skin.

She tries to move away, put some distance between their bodies, but Oliver only curls his arm around her tighter pulling her back flush against his chest. She squeaks out in surprise shifting slightly, when she feels something hard nestled between her ass cheeks her entire body freezes in surprise. She waits for Oliver to wake up and release his hold on her but Oliver only nuzzles his face in her hair and presses himself against her ass cheeks.

This time Felicity can’t help but moan softly in response, she can feel the full length of him, firmly nestled between her cheeks. Her thin sleeping shorts leaving nothing to her already vivid imagination. She knows she should pull away but instead she rocks backwards biting her lip to hold back her moan. 

Oliver though hums in approval, his hot breath tickling her neck his hand trailing down her stomach. When his fingers just barely graze the waistband of her shorts she knows she needs to put a stop to this, despite her body’s protest. Oliver would never forgive himself if he wakes up and realizes he’s practically dry humping her in his sleep, despite the fact she is a very willing participant in the equation. 

She grabs him by the wrist but then gasps out in surprise when Oliver slips his hand out of hers and places her hand low on her mound pressing their clasps hands against the soft material of her sleep shorts. 

“Felicity.” He moans softly, his nose nudging her jaw as he hums in appreciation and Felicity knows that he’s not longer asleep. His even breaths are now soft pants against her skin. 

He slowly rocks against her ass pressing his  erection further between her ass cheeks. Felicity hums in approval, the heat radiating off of Oliver completely encompassing her, the feel of his solid body pressed up against hers warming her inside out. 

“Oliver.” She pants out his name, her voice echoing in the small loft. 

She takes his hand and guides it under the waistband of her shorts, but just as their fingers press against the coarse curls at her mound Oliver entire body stills and he extracts himself from Felicity’s embrace so much so that Felicity almost is tumbling off the side of the bed in surprise. 

“I'm sorry.” Oliver apologizes his voice is strained, “I shouldn’t have...I wasn’t...I’m sorry.”

“Oliver!”

Her protest goes on deaf ears however as Oliver grabs his pillow clutching it to his front and avoids looking her in the eye, she can see the way his fingers clench around the pillow his knuckles going white. 

The same hand just moments ago was down her pants. The memory of the feel of his coarse fingertips against her heated skin causes her to flush.

“I’ll just sleep on the couch.”

“Oliver! You don’t have to go! Oliver!” Felicity calls out to him again, but growls when he mutters a soft apology one more time before he disappears below the stairs.

Felicity plops back onto the centre of their bed muttering angrily to herself. She  _ knew _ she should have trusted her instincts and just pulled away the moment she woke up. She wants to go down their, confront him, fight him, demand to know why he pulled away like that, but then she remembers his look of horror and she can’t find it in her to go after him. She’s not ready to face that rejection.

She curls into herself leaving Oliver’s side of the bed bare and eventually drifts off wondering how she's going to deal with this in the morning. How is she going to look him in the eye after she encouraged him to put his  _ hand _ down her pants.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, life, muses, the usual affected my writing.
> 
> Thank you all SO much for the response in the last chapter, I'd hope you would enjoy that particular trope, but I didnt think you would react to strongly to it! those comments definitely made my day. I'm not sure if the fall out to this trope was quite what you guys were expecting but I hope that you enjoy the next transition to yet another trope all the same :)

The next time Felicity wakes up she's no longer surrounded by Oliver’s warmth, but instead the sun casts a warm glow over the bed, the small loft baking in the summer heat. She has since kicked off the blanket due to the heat  but as the previous night’s events come back to her, Felicity’s entire body goes ice cold. She listens closely for any movement but the loft is still as night, not even the humming of the central air can be heard. She sits up slowly and peers over the small balcony but sees no sign of Oliver, but she refuses to check to see if is sleeping form is on the couch. 

After taking much longer than normal to complete her morning ritual she finally drags herself down the small stair cases when  her stomach wins her over her need to just hold up in the bedroom despite the fact she knows she can't stay there forever.

When she walks into the open area she sighs partially in relief and partially in frustration. She and Oliver can't avoid each other forever, even if she wish it were possible. They are staying in this loft for a reason and focusing on the mission should be their main concern.

She goes to help herself with the last pieces of pizza and pauses when she sees a small note scribbled on the box. 

_ Felicity, _

_ Went to the grocery for some food. Text me if you need anything in particular. Going to scope out the apartment as well _

_ Oliver. _

She pauses in surprise not really expecting the note, she remembers they talked about how they would approach infiltrating the apartment as well as getting basic things like food.

She had started making a list of things she needed the previous night and quickly sends Oliver the list. Not really paying attention as she fiddles with the oven to warm her pizza. She can be such a pizza snob, refusing to warm it in the microwave because she hates soggy pizza dough.

She pulls up the schematic of the apartment complex and keeps herself occupied until the front door slams open and Oliver walks in with three large bag of groceries. She’s about to make a quip about him carrying the groceries until their eyes catch and she's brought back to the previous night. 

“Oliver...”

“I got your text.” Oliver cuts her off as he tosses the bags onto the center counter. “I got everything on the list and I was thinking about using one of those arrows you made with the camera and sending it into the apartment from small window that's open. I checked it and the window is still open.”

The abrupt change in conversation has her so startled she can barely process his words. She shakes her head when he looks at her expectantly, his face blank and lacking any kind of emotion.

“We can't do that, this is the suburbs someone will notice. What we can do is just go and  _ knock _ , you know greet the neighbors with a casserole... or baked goods... or something.” 

“You know how to bake a casserole?” Oliver's asks skeptically, with just a hint of teasing in his voice. 

When Felicity looks up at him to level him with a glare she falters at his unsure expression, obviously he had not meant to tease her like this. She hates this, hate this weird state they are in that they can't even joke with each other anymore all because of what she did.

What they both did, it's not like Oliver was not  _ lucid _ at the time. 

Felicity just huffs softly, her shoulders dropping as she goes back to the bag of groceries that she was emptying. Oliver unsurprisingly does not say anything and follows her lead grabbing the large carton of milk to put in the fridge.

“No but we are in the suburbs we need to act accordingly. If they are really conducting some kind of drug manufacturing it's not like they would  _ welcome _ the casserole.”

“I want to know what we’re up against before we go off half cocked.”

“Well, climbing the balcony or worse, shooting an  _ arrow _ is not the way to go.” Felicity says stubbornly. “We can go disguised as their neighbors asking for some  _ milk.  _ I don't know, but we aren't going to raise suspicion.”

“We aren't sure how this drug is even administered.” Oliver says in exasperation, “shouldn't we take some kind of precaution for that? From what we know this drug has people doing things without any kind of inhibition and Detective Lance said the new batch are causing health problems and…”

“Oliver, I know all this.” Felicity says patiently, “I know you have been hesitant about me going on the field but we can’t keep going like this. Either I'm fully on the team or not at all.”

Her ultimatum comes out suddenly but she does not take it back. This will not be the last time she needs to go on the field and Oliver’s over paranoid nature is not conducive to her getting her job done. She knows both her kidnappings happening so close together has spooked not only him but  _ her.  _ But they can't go on like this.

“Alright.” Oliver concedes, “you’re right. I'm sorry.”

“Okay.” Felicity says with a nod surprised by his apology as well as his acceptance.

They put away the last of the grocery in silence until Oliver calls out to her, “Felicity.” 

His voice is soft, tentative and Felicity heart surges with hope. She puts her box of nesquik cereal on the counter next to his muesli, and slowly turns around trying to not too hopeful and the prospect of finally discussing what happened the previous night. When he tosses her a medium size brown paper bag, his cheeks slightly pink she only frowns in confusion. She peeks inside the bag and then her own face flames in embarrassment.

“ _ Oliver _ ,”  __ bemoans slightly, the bag now clutched to her chest and she can see the hot pink label of one of  _ many _ tampons boxes in the bag.

“I didn't know which to get so I kinda just picked up three different kinds. I hope those were the right ones. The receipt in there if you…” He trails off as he rubs his neck his eyes finally flickering to catch hers.

“I sent you the wrong list. This was my old list from last week. I'm sorry...I wouldn't have never….I was distracted this morning and I…”

“I thought you….when I left like I did last night, and this morning without talking.” Oliver fumbles over his own words and they are both trying to rectify the situation. “I thought you were testing me...or something.”

Felicity sighs in frustration, and squares her shoulders as she speaks, “Oliver we need to talk.”

“Felicity…”

“No. No more excuses we need to talk about last night and the last  _ month _ . We can't keep going like this. It makes no sense for me to be on this team and helping you if we can’t even discuss  _ arrow  _ stuff if there is this underlying  _ thing _ between us. Who knows? Maybe I’m the only one who is seeing something that's not there. Maybe I've let my own emotions affect my judgement and I thought you felt the same way. Maybe it's only one sided and I'm sorry if I…”

“It's not one sided.” Oliver cuts her off, his cheeks reddening but he looks at directly at her as he speaks, “it’s not one sided. You’re not the only one who feels that way. I feel...it’s not one sided.”

“Oh. Okay.” Felicity’s heart hammers in her chest, she never expected him to admit to that. To practically admit his feelings to  _ her.  _ Her mind goes blank, she is unsure where to go from here. Well she  _ does _ but just never expected to hear that from Oliver. “Right, well we should talk about this. Last night and I…”

“Later.” Oliver cuts her off but when she goes to protest he takes a step toward her and squeezes her shoulder. “After we put these guys away. No distractions. Just you and me and maybe we can finish that bottle of wine we didn't get to last week?”

His voice is soft and hopeful and Felicity breath hitches at his close proximity. He’s not wrong, they need to focus on this mission and they can't with this  _ thing _ between them affecting their work.

“Okay.” She grabs her tablet and presents it to him, “I searched for the person that the lease is under, hoping we’d get a lead but unsurprisingly it's a fake name. I sent the information to Laurel and hoping that she might be able to “lawyer” her way around that legalities. I have a photo and I'm doing a search now hoping to figure out who exactly is renting out this apartment. The monthly agreement like what we signed could affect us from finding out exactly who it is. I just need to access their database and it will be the final puzzle piece.”

“Alright, are we  _ both _ going to go for milk?” Oliver asks with uncertainty his fingers scrape against his stubble a sign that he’s slightly out of his element.

“I guess? We can just say we’re new to the neighborhood and wanted to introduce ourselves?” Felicity suggests, she too feels out of place. 

She’s lived in her little townhouse for two years now and other than her neighbor who always loses her cat, she’s not familiar with any of them. As for Oliver, she’s pretty sure there isn't a house near the Queen mansion for at least 10 miles, neighbors is a foreign  concept to Oliver.

“We’re kind of hopeless, aren't we?” Oliver asks with a grin.

Felicity only laughs in response they are both aware of the double meaning behind his words, “pretty much.”

“Let me just change out of these clothes and we can go.” Felicity says after a moment.

“What’s wrong with that?” Oliver asks looking at her sweatpants and ratty old MIT t-shirt in confusion.

“I look like a hobo, Oliver.” She says in exasperation. 

She walks off towards the stairs her cheeks flaring when Oliver tells her that's she looks nice. A few minutes later she comes flying down the stairs in a jean shorts and tank top and her small bag with her supplies.

“Ready?” 

She's busy patting down her shorts to make sure she has the flash drives in her pocket and doesn't notice the way Oliver’s eyes linger over her bare legs. 

“Oliver?” 

“Yes. Let’s go.” Oliver says quickly. She looks at him curiously but he only ushers her silently out of the room.

* * *

 

“Are we sure breaking in is the best plan?” Felicity asks nervously as she paces the small area on lookout for anyone coming, “I mean it’s obvious these people have some high tech resources. I can’t even breach their systems, who’s to say they don’t have an alarm system set up with this to alert a break in?”

“They most likely do.” Oliver says matter of factly as he fiddles with the door handle a short metal device between his teeth as he works on the lock. “We just have to get in and out before they get back.”

“That’s comforting.” Felicity responds dryly. She spins around to face him her forehead wrinkling slightly, “I wasn’t aware picking locks was something you’d need on a supposedly deserted island.”

“Didn’t learn it on the island.” 

“Of course you did not.” 

When Oliver doesn’t elaborate Felicity only rolls her eyes in response, she’s about to remark, maybe try and get him to divulge a little bit more info. Maybe, he’ll tell her where he learned to fly a  _ plane _ of all things - no she will _ neve _ r let that one go - but then the front door opens with a soft click and she sobers up as she follows him into the apartment. When they enter a small hallway she hums softly in surprise.

“I guess not all the apartments are the same then.”

“This might be the two bedroom place, Angie was referring too.” Oliver suggests as he walks further into the apartment, gesturing her to follow, “C’mon let’s look for their computers.”

“No need.” Felicity says on spotting router and modem neatly tucked under a side table. She moves over to the modem and immediately pops in one of her USBs, “Their firewall is insanely advanced, but thats for their wifi, now that I have this little guy I can sidestep all of it and access their mainframe. We’re sure this is the place of the drug manufacture and not something else right?”

“What else could it be?” Oliver asks incredulously standing at the first doorway and peering around the corners for anyone else.

“They could be running a porn business and just extra cautious.” She suggests as he fingers fly across her keyboard.

“Felicity.”

“You’d be surprised how many of those industries are done in little suburban buildings just like this.”  She says seriously never taking her eyes away from the screen. 

When she doesn’t get a response she looks across at Oliver to see that he has his head tilted to the side a grin gracing his features, “Do I even want to know how you know this?”

“You’d be surprised the things I find when I’m bored and on a hacking binge.” She says throwing him a cheeky grin of her own.

“I’ll check the area out and make sure there isn’t a bed and camera around.” Oliver quips, but then falters when he realizes the implication behind his words, he turns to felicity eyes wide, “I didn’t...I wasn’t...that..”

“Usually, I’m the one talking in sentence fragments.” Felicity teases.

“I’m going to look around.” Oliver says with a slight huff only causing Felicity to grin more.

Felicity watches the last of the the download complete and just as she pulls out the flash drive Oliver’s harsh tone has her on high alert almost immediately. She slips things into her bag and quickly move towards Oliver despite his warning  _ not _ to come.

“Oliver?”

“Don’t come in here! We need to get out of here.” Oliver says urgently. He’s standing in the middle of the kitchen and surrounding him is a handful of large pots with something bubbling on the stove a slight purple smoke emitting from the surface, “I think we just figured out how they were planning to administer the new version of this drug.  _ Felicity _ .”

“It’s aerosolized!” Felicity gasps in horror just as she takes in a deep breath, the sweet smelling drug overtaking her senses almost immediately.

“ _ Felicity! _ ” Oliver says urgently already ushering her out of the kitchen but they both freeze when they hear the lock turning at the front door. “Fuck. This way.”

He grabs her by the arm and practically hauls her into the nearest room.

“Oliver, a closet isn’t the best hiding place.” She hisses softly. 

Her heart is strumming in her chest and she seems to be acutely aware of her surroundings, the way a soft breeze tickles the back of her thighs from the window behind her, the soft material of her sandals slightly cutting into the back of her heels. Her body is flushed and she knows it’s not fromt the sudden adrenaline rush of almost being caught, her body is attuned to things around her more so than normal.

Something isn’t right, she can feel the heat radiating from Oliver despite the fact that he’s standing a few feet from her as far as the small room will allow. She looks across at him and suddenly her entire body flushes with heat, her clothes feels restricting as arousal begins to simmer with in her.

“Oliver.” 

Her voice is a soft whispered plea, she doesn't even know what she's asking for her body is just a buzz of energy as the voices outside get louder.

“Felicity.” Oliver practically pants her name she can see the way he clenches his fists as his eyes roam over her body. 

This is not good. Not good at all.

“We need to get out of here.” She knows he's referring to impending death that's probably awaiting them behind the door but her mind goes in a totally different scenario and why they should get out of her and what they could be doing and her body heats up at all the ideas racing through her mind.

“Unless you have a jet pack hiding under you shirt and you can  _ fly  _ us out of that window the only way out is through that door,” she's panting now the need practically clawing at her skin begging to come out. She watches the way oliver’s eyes dilate and when his tongue swipes across his bottom lip she moans softly unable to stop herself. “Fuck.”

“It's the drug.” Oliver says unnecessarily, fingers clenched at his side as he makes his way towards her and she's unsure if he’s aware that he’s moving.

“They said it lowers inhibition, but my heart. My hearts racing and I'm  starting to feel light headed.” Felicity whispers, the need is still coursing through her veins but the fear is beginning to set it. This is not just her inhibitions being lowered its something else entirely. 

“Fuck. We need to get you out of here.” Oliver growls an action that causes makes her go weak at the knees as wetness pool between her legs she's never reacted so strongly to just Oliver’s voice before. “Felicity, can you hear me? Felicity?”

Her knees buckle and if Oliver didn’t reach towards her she would have collapsed to the floor. Her fingers scrape across his chest, fingernails digging into his firm bicep and she moans softly. “What’s happening to me?”

“I'm not sure.” Oliver says tensely.

He hisses when she presses her  body against his and she can feel his hardness between her legs. He obviously is having a reaction as well just he's able to control himself far more than she can control herself, “Oliver.”

“I think it's aphrodisiac,” Oliver moans softly, “but I think it's geared towards women. Detective Lance said that they think they’ve been planning to start trafficking women. I feel….I feel…”

“Horny?” She gasps out as she rocks against against his hips hissing when she feels the rough material of his jeans brush against her  bare leg.

“Yes, but it's something else.” Oliver says with a frown. 

Felicity doesn't understand how he can think at a time like this when she's practically purring against his body and she can't stop herself. “ _ Oliver _ , just kiss me already.”

“Felicity I don't think…” Oliver’s protests died on his lips the moment Felicity presses  _ her  _ lips to hers.

The moment lips met it was as if a fire had been ignited within her and suddenly they were a frenzy of limbs, teeth clattering, tongues sweeping and they practically clawing at each other. Oliver’ hot breath tickles her neck just his stubble grazing against her overly sensitive skin, her fingers tugging at his t-shirt forcibly. She moans his name softly as his tongue dances along the soft curves of her breasts before he tugs her tank top down forcibly growly when he realizes she’s not wearing a bra.

He spins them around and pushes her up against a sink, and it’s only when the cold porcelain touches her  bare skin does she become aware that they are in a bathroom. The moment Oliver’s lips wrap around her nipple she hisses out his name. 

Her sense are on overdrive, she can practically feel every inch of her body from the tips of her toes to the hairs on the back of her neck, all of it responding to Oliver’s touch in a way she’s never imagined...never experienced before and all she wants...all she needs is  _ more. _

She cards her fingers through Oliver’s short blond hair, gripping it firmly pressing him into her as she pants out his name begging him for more. When his teeth graze across her sensitive nipple she yells out in surprise, her body bowing, her hips rocking against Oliver’s firm body as she finds herself falling into the abyss moaning out Oliver’s name.

Oliver pulls back, hissing softly when she doesn’t loosen her hold on his hair, his eyes are wild, his lips red and swollen, “Did you just…”

“It’s the  _ drug _ .” Felicity pants out her cheeks pink and rosy. 

She should be embarrassed, she should apologize, do  _ something, _ but all she can think about is Oliver’s tongue and what else he can do with it, from the way Oliver’s eyes dilate, and he licks his lips she knows that for once they are on the same wavelength. His fingers are already working on the zipper of her jean shorts when the a loud bang brings the back to reality and they both freeze, Oliver’s eyes hardening.

“Who the fuck is in there?” A loud voice bellows as the door rattles and Felicity knows that the flimsy latch at the door is not going to keep anyone out. 

As more voices are heard, the eager chatter, the sleazy comments, Felicity knows that they heard them, know what she and Oliver were getting up to and her blood runs cold. She can hear several voices, and she knows the tight quarters they are in are not going to work in their favour. 

She freezes in fright as Oliver seems to move into overdrive, he’s zipping up her pants while yanking up her top simultaneously and once she’s properly covered he’s moving at lightning speed, towards the window. 

“We’ve got to go.” Oliver all but growls holding out a hand towards her.

Felicity eyes the window uneasily, “I was kidding about the jet pack.”

“There is a ledge on the outside of this window.” Oliver says quickly already shoving the window open with one big grunt  and then holds out his hand to her as the door continues to rattle, “C’mon I’ll give you a boost.”

“Where are we going once we’re on this ledge?” Felicity asks nervously but follows his lead nonetheless, “You don’t exactly have your grappling arrow in your back pocket.”

“Our balcony is a few feet below we just have to jump to the next door neighbours ledge and then down to our balcony. “ Oliver hoists her into the air with ease but as she slips through the window she remembers her bag that slipped off her shoulder in the heat of the moment.

“Oliver, my bag!”

“I got it, go on. Just don’t look down.” He warns.

Naturally, as he says that Felicity looks down and she immediately feels the bile rising up in her throat but instead, looks to the ledge only about three feet away and and tightens her hold on the window pane and quickly eases herself onto the ledge. She then frowns when she hears the door slam open followed by some grunts. Felicity stomach drops and she’s just about to go back and crawl through the window when Oliver head peaks out through the window her bag hanging around his neck. 

She breathes a sigh of relief as he jumps down to the ledge and spins around slamming the window shut and then makes his way towards her. He gestures to their small balcony that’s just about 10 feet below them, “C’mon. I slammed the door in their face, they are going to come looking and I don’t want them to see us here. I’ll go first then I’ll catch you.”

She doesn’t even have time to process his words before he leaps off the ledge and lands with a thud in their balcony. He’s gesturing wildly for her to jump, but her legs are unable to cooperate.

“Felicity.”  He hisses out, but his features softens when he sees the fear in her eyes, “Jump down, not out. I’ll catch you. I promise.”

She can hear rattling above her and she knows they are running out of time,  _ she _ is running out of time. Oliver calls out to her one last time and without thinking about it she closes her eyes and drops down and lands with a soft thud in a familiar firm arms. Before she can slip out of his grasp however, Oliver’s moving towards the glass doors and while still holding her he slides open the door and slips inside just as a loud growl can be heard outside.

“Holy shit, that was close.” Felicity says her heart now hammering in her chest as Oliver places her back on her feet. 

But Oliver doesn't release his hold on her, instead his hand moves to cup her chin while he presses his fingers against her neck clearly checking her pulse, “are you okay?”

“I'm fine.” Felicity promises, but her words to little to ease his worries, she wraps her fingers around his wrist pulling his hand from her neck, and forcing him to look her in the eye, “I'm okay. The drug is out of my system I think we were only exposed to a small amount. I don't feel light headed anymore or….or the other symptoms. Are  _ you _ okay?”

“I'm sorry.” Oliver implore ignoring her question and focusing on her, “I shouldn't have lost control like that. Especially when you were in...in the state you were in.”

“Oliver, we were both hit with the drug, it's hardly your fault, I was practically climbing you like a tree.” Felicity quips, but when Oliver doesn't smile she sighs, “Oliver, you hardly took advantage of me if I remember correctly I came onto  _ you _ . If anything I should be apologizing to  _ you.” _

“You weren't in your right state of mind.” Oliver dismisses looking at her worriedly, “this drug completely altered your thoughts and needs. It's like it fed on your libido. I should have gotten you out of there the minute I saw the pots on the stove.”

“Oliver, you can't possibly blame yourself for us getting hit with the drug. As far as we knew the drug was not aerosolized until now, in fact we caught it before it can be distributed into the market. If anything we saved tons of women from being subjected to it. I forwarded all the information to detective Lance already. The police should be on their way before those people even have time to pack up and find a new place. This one goes down in the win column for us.”

But her words seem to have little effect on Oliver and her heart plummets as he takes a step away from her and shakes his head, “No that drugs, it fed on my emotions my basic instincts and affected my ability to focus. All I saw was  _ you _ . All I wanted was  _ you.” _

Felicity heart sores at his words, “I don't see how that can be seen as bad thing. In case you didn't realize my body reacted just as strongly to  _ you _ . The need that I had? That need wasn't just some itch that I was looking for anyone to scratch it was for  _ you _ . My body was attuned to  _ yours.” _

_ “ _ We don't know that for sure.” Oliver protests, “what I do know is I let my emotions distract me and it almost got us killed. I can't take that kind of risk, not in the field and certainly not with your life.”

“What are you saying?” Felicity asks her heart clenching and she tries to keep her eyes from filling with tears.

“Felicity, don’t ask me to say it.” Oliver pleads his voice breaking he tries to take a step towards her bit Felicity only shakes her head and takes a step back.

“No. I need you to say it. I need you to spell it out for me.”

“I can’t...this thing between us...it can't happen.” Oliver whispers, his eyes downcast and he can't even find it in himself to look at her, only breaking Felicity’s heart more. “I can't get distracted on the field like that again. Not at the expense of your life. I won't.”

“So what you’re saying is you can't be the Arrow  _ and _ be with me.” Felicity speaks her voice void of any emotions, “that I'm a distraction.”

“No. Felicity...”

“It's fine.” She says when it's anything but and they both know it. “It's better this way, that we call things off before anything else could happen and make it that much worse. This way we nip it in the bud before it could start.”

“Felicity, I didn't mean…”

“It’s fine, Oliver.” Felicity voice is hard as she speaks and now  _ she _ is the one avoiding eye contact with  _ him. “ _ I have to call detective Lance make sure he got all the information he needs to take down these idiots.”

“Felicity.”

“We have the apartment till the end of the month.” Felicity says, “You can stay here till it ends, you need a proper place to sleep. I'll pack up my stuff and be out before the end of the day, or at least until the SCPD comes to raid the neighbors.” 

Her call to detective Lance goes through just as she finishes her speech and she focuses on the older man’s words unable to listen to Oliver’s soft protests her heart sinking as that small dash of hope is crushed before she can even blink.


	7. Chapter 6

The police arrived in record time, Oliver listens with satisfaction as they raid the place above them heavy footfalls echoing around the small apartment. He can hear the yelling, the grunts, the scampering of feet across the roof all indications that the police have finally put an end to this terrible crime. 

Laurel was able to get a list of names from that fake name Felicity originally gave her so all the other dealers who bought from the original maker are also going to jail. 

Oliver is getting tired of everyone trying to mimic Count Vertigo.

Speaking of said drug, it's been a few hours since they have been exposed to the small bit of the drug and while Oliver only feels exhausted he’s been keeping a close eye on Felicity since the incident. Which is proving to be difficult because she’s been pointedly ignoring him the past few hours. Luckily, this small apartment makes almost impossible for them to avoid each other.

But, every time he catches Felicity staring at him a small piece of his heart chips away. He hates this. He hates that he let things get so out of hand and in turn hurt the one person he never wanted to hurt.

He hears a small grunt come from the loft bedroom and looks up too see Felicity dragging her suitcase towards the stairs. He’d go to help her but the last time he asked she almost bit his head off. So he just sits at the small bar in the kitchen watching on silently.

Another grunt from her and he can't help it when his mind goes back to another instance when he heard her soft grunts for a completely different reason. He remembers the feel of her soft curves pressed against him the little gasps she made as his lips touched her hot skin.

A loud knocking pulls Oliver from his dangerous daydream and he looks at Felicity curiously just as one of SCPD officers announce their presence.

“Oh! They are probably interviewing the neighbors to see if we saw anything suspicious.” Felicity says with wide eyes, “quick take off your t-shirt.”

“What? What for?” Oliver asks in alarm as the knocking continues, despite his question though he’s already taking off the t-shirt. His eyes widen as Felicity grabs it and tugs over her head yanking on her ponytail so that to barely holding in place.

“Felicity, what…” Oliver stutters, his tongue is caught in his throat just as the now familiar sound of a zipper, echos in the small apartment.

“Coming!” Felicity calls out to the insistent knocking at the door as she slips off her shorts and tosses it onto the back of the lone couch in the apartment much to Oliver’s amazement, “newlyweds, Oliver.”

A small part of Oliver wonders if she’s doing this just to get back at him, but the moment she looks at him and rolls her eyes in exasperation her fingers go to his hair and tugs on it so that it stands on edge, he finally clues into what she’s doing. 

“We broke into the apartment, those men are going to be desperate to get all the attention off of them and the police will be on the lookout for the two people who broke into the apartment. We need to have a proper alibi. Newlyweds.” She says it all in a whispered rush and if Oliver wasn’t so in tuned to the pace at which Felicity usually speaks he’s pretty sure he would have missed half of that.

Felicity doesn’t wait for him to respond but instead runs towards the door. Oliver is so surprised by the vast amount of naked leg in his line of vision that he forgets to point out that unless someone saw them jump out of the window, no one is going to suspect them of breaking into a random apartment. However, all he can imagine is those long bare legs wrapped around his waist

_ “Oliver.”  _

Oliver tears his gaze away from her legs to look up at her guiltily. Felicity is glaring at him, while the two young officers are both trying hold back their smiles, no doubt knowing exactly what was occupying Oliver’s mind.

“Sorry to interrupt Mr. Queen.” The officer on the right, a short round face guy who looks no older than Thea, smiles at Oliver, “We were just telling Mrs. Queen about the drug bust that occurred on the floor above yours. We just want to reassure residents that all the guilty parties have been detained and that there is no threat to you.”

“That’s good to know.” Oliver says with a nod as he stands next to Felicity, who to his surprise, wraps an arm around his waist leans into him as she smiles warmly at the two officers.  

“Have either of you noticed any suspicious activity lately coming from apartment  5b?” The other officer, a slim dark skin woman, obviously the more experienced between the two, asks curiously. She already has her notebook and pen out.

“Oh no, we only moved in yesterday.” Felicity answers and gestures to behind her where her two suitcases lay behind the couch, her shorts that she tossed aside having fell onto one of the suitcases, “As you can see we’ve been a little preoccupied. We haven’t even met our neighbours yet. We couldn't even  identify them in a line up.”

Oliver can practically feel her twitching in nervousness next to him and presses his thumb lightly against her waist  stopping her rambling before it got worse, and she inadvertently spills that they know more than they should.

But the two officers are none the wiser and she smiles at them pleasantly, “it's okay Mrs. Queen we’re just doing a routine check and making sure everyone knows there is nothing to worry about. Have a good day.”

The moment the door closes Felicity slips out of Oliver’s grasp and makes a beeline for her discarded shorts never saying a word, which is unnerving on its own. The fact that she doesn't even want to make small talk is disconcerting to say the least and Oliver hates it.

“Felicity…”

“If the police are finished by the end of the night I’ll probably head home.” Felicity explains cutting him off before he can speak, her back is still to him as she slips off his shirt and lays it on the couch.

He goes to protest, to tell her there is no need for her to leave right this moment, but thinks better of it, instead he just nods and leaves her to her own devices as he goes to the kitchen to make them a late lunch.

As a kid he’d always enjoy cooking with Riasa, but then when he became a teenager and was told that cooking was for girls he stopped hanging around the kitchen, only appearing when he was looking for the best hangover cure or food. 

He only appreciated the value of a well cooked meal after five years of fighting for his meals, sometimes going days without food.

When he came back from the island he found himself looking for some solace, some moments of silence from the chatters and inquires from his family, and that's how he found himself once again in the kitchen with Riasa.

It's been so long since he’s cooked for anyone other than himself, he’s forgotten how much he enjoyed it and more importantly how it helps him clear his mind in a way that running or sparring just does not do.

* * *

 

He’s elbow deep in kneading dough when Felicity comes wandering into the kitchen. He’d notice her lingering in the living room, but as the smells from the stove top intensified he noted with amusement that she slowly started gravitating towards the center bar. She’s yet to sit on one of the bar stools but she’s now openly staring at him.

“What are you doing?” She can't help but ask, her bright colored nails a glaring contrast against the white bits of powder on the counter

“I forgot to buy bread.” Oliver says just as he spins around to check on his simmering pot.

“So you decided to  _ make  _ it?” Felicity asks incredibly this time slipping into the bar stool and getting comfortable, “who are you?”

Oliver only laughs in return, “I always wanted to try it, and the garlic bread would go well with the pasta.”

“ _ Wow.”  _ Felicity whistles impressed. Oliver smiles proudly to himself, he had not started this meal with the intent to impress her, but he’ll admit that her almost flabbergasted, impressed look is a welcome bonus.

He turns around to face her making sure his face is neutral not wanting her to realize how much her praises affected him.

“Late lunch, early dinner should be finished soon.” He says almost shyly, “you’ll stay for dinner before you go, right?”

He holds his breath, preparing himself for the worst, he only hopes that he did not completely destroy their friendship with his decisions. He can see Felicity battling with herself on what to say, he's just about to let her off the hook, give her and out when Felicity takes one giant sniff of the air and smiles at him with an equally shy smile.

“Can't let all this good food go to waste can I?” 

Oliver quickly shakes her head in the negative a smile blossoming on his face, “definitely not.”

Felicity smiles at him widely, her cheeks pink and making his heart swell and suddenly he has the urge to just kiss her. All the reasons why he knows he shouldn't goes right out the window, with just one smile.

He takes a step towards her clearly thinking with his heart instead of his head, but just as his flour covered hand goes to grab hers, the shrilling sound of his cellphone cuts through the still room and Oliver’s hope falters almost as quick as a popped balloon loses air. 

“It’s Thea.” Felicity informs him peering over his phone, she seems to register her own words and her eyes widen in surprise,  other than her first text in forming Oliver of her European  plans and after Slade’s army was put down this is the first time Oliver has heard from his sister.“It’s  _ Thea!” _

Oliver looks down at his dough and flour covered hands and then at Felicity helplessly. Felicity only rolls her eyes in amusement and grabs the phone and puts it on speaker.

_ “Hello? Ollie?” _

“Thea! How are…”

“ _ You got married and you didn’t tell me! And to your secretary, Ollie? Seriously? ” _

Felicity almost drops Oliver’s phone at Thea’s accusation and looks at Oliver in alarm, Oliver just raises his hand to her, as he speaks calmly, “Where did you hear that?”

“ _ It's all over the Internet!” Thea says appalled, “You know, mom said something was going there. You promoting an IT girl to your secretary had to be fishy...but to get married. Is she pregnant? What the hell were thinking, Ollie? _ ”

“Thea!” Oliver calls out loudly cutting her off he can see Felicity already at her tablet the look of horror on her face already confirming Thea’s word. “No one is pregnant. It’s not…”

_ “I can't believe you didn't even invite me! Not even a picture.” Thea grumbles but Oliver pauses at her tone, her teasing tone.  _

“Thea it's not what you think…” He tries again to interrupt  but once again Thea raises her voice and cuts him off.

_ “Ollie there are pictures of you buying  _ **_tampons_ ** _. In all the years I've known you, you were never that guy. Grocery shopping and  _ **_gazing_ ** _ at a girl…” _

“What are you even talking about? What pictures? Oliver asks.

He wipes his hands on his jeans and looks at Felicity who is looking at her tablet with an unreadable expression, “Felicity?”

_ “Oh is she there? Do you have me on speaking phone,Ollie?” _

“Hi Thea.” Felicity squeaks out looking at Oliver in alarm and Oliver can't help but grin at her nervous expression. Felicity narrows her eyes and shoves her tablet in his arms.

Oliver falters at the images in front of him tuning out the forced conversation between Felicity and Thea. It's the STAR, the local tabloid magazine, article unimaginatively called  _ “Has Queen found his Queen? _ ” and under is a short article about oliver’s current nuptials to Felicity but it's the images that has captured Oliver’s attention. The first picture is Oliver standing next to a semi filled grocery cart,  two boxes of tampons in his hand as he contemplates both products with serious concentration. It's the next picture that gives Oliver pause, a highly pixelated image of Oliver and Felicity standing in front of Diggle’s van as they held a box of linen between them Felicity is looking up at Oliver the biggest grin on her face but it's Oliver’s own expression that causes his breath to catch. Despite the blurriness of the photo it's obvious that he is smiling just as widely. He remembers clearly the conversation they were having, Felicity teasing Oliver about owning a big fluffy towel. He's never realized that was what he looked like when he looked at Felicity.

“Oliver!” Felicity tense voice pulls him from his thoughts and she looks at him in panic, “you sister says she wants to visit. I told her the apartment isn't really fit for visitors and maybe in a month or…”

_ “Ollie, please tell your  _ **_wife_ ** _ that I can just stay at a hotel. I'm not going to take months to visit. Besides, I'm already at LAX for my connecting flight to Starling. I should be there in the morning. We have a some things to discuss about QC.”  _

“What does that mean?” Oliver asks tersely his eyes shooting to Felicity who has look of unease that doesn't sit well with Oliver.

_ “I just got to my hotel, I couldn't get a fight to Starling tonight so I'm staying at the Mariott at the airport. I’ll see you in the morning.” _

With those final words she hangs up leaving no room for argument and not even acknowledging Oliver’s question. Felicity’s eyes widen to the size of saucers as she looks at Oliver incredulously almost as though it's Oliver's fault Thea can't take no for an answer.

“You could have at least  _ tried _ to convince her to not to come.” Felicity says in exasperation.

“She’s already halfway here!” Oliver snaps,  not so much annoyed at Felicity but at the situation they are now in. “Besides, Thea never could take the word no for answer and us getting married  _ is _ a big deal.”

“But we aren't married!” Felicity points out, “how are you even going to explain that? And the pictures? There are pictures of us moving into together, pictures of us at a few of the company’s galas all of these look so much more suggestive than they are. Oh god there is even one of me a few months ago bring cocoa for John when he was watching for Slade implying that  _ you _ spent the night. This is so invasive. The Star is going to wish they never published these. I thought I got rid of some of these  _ months _ ago.”

She’s grumbling to more to herself than to Oliver but Oliver can’t help but pause at her words, his previous bread making task all but forgotten, “Got rid of what? You’ve seen these pictures before?” 

He tries to grab the tablet from Felicity, but recoils when she  _ hisses  _ at him, her pink painted nails curling around the device. “Of course I’ve seen these before. Oliver, you’re a tabloid magnet. Playboy Oliver Queen becomes CEO of Queen Consolidated and the very first thing he does is hire a  _ young  _ blond I.T specialist to be his secretary. People talk.  _ Lots _ of people had something to say about it.”

“Executive Assistant.” Oliver murmurs softly trying to diffuse the tension. When Felicity doesn’t smile he sighs and takes a step towards her unsure if after everything he’s allowed to touch her, “Felicity, I didn’t know...why didn’t you say anything?”

“Of course you didn’t.” Felicity says tiredly, but her voice has no hint of accusation in it and if anything that causes the guilt low in Oliver’s belly begin rise. “You had enough on your plate, besides I was able to get rid of the evidence quickly enough, to the point that people moved on to the next rich delinquent of Starling City, no offense. At least I  _ thought _ it was over, with Slade Wilson’s threat I stopped keeping tabs on your name. I don’t get how I missed this, there are just  _ so _ many articles on here. Even  _ People _ had something to say about it. This is going to take  _ forever _ to clear up.”

“Don’t.” Oliver says placing a hand on her wrist halting her movements, and he can’t ignore the sound of her breath hitching at his touch. “It’s already out there, deleting the digital evidence won’t get rid of the printed ones and they’ll know it’s  _ you _ trying to cover something up. It will only look like we have something to hide.”

“We have something to hide, just not a marriage.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort it out in the morning.” Oliver promises. He refuses to let Felicity’s name be dragged along with another one of Oliver Queen’s misdemeanours.

“Sort it out? Oliver, we signed papers for this apartment,  _ together _ . They have proper evidence, witnesses hearing us say we’re  _ married _ . We can’t brush this off like some silly rumour.”

“Look, it’s my fault we’re in this mess. I was the one that told Angela we were married and you specifically said no labels probably for this reason, exactly. I’ll handle it.”

“Why won’t you ever accept help?“ Felicity huffs in exasperation pulling her hand out from under Oliver’s as she slides off her stool, “it takes two to tango. I can’t leave you to deal with this on your own when we’re both the ones under scrutiny.”

He’s unsure how to respond to that, knowing the truth behind her words. Instead, he focuses on the large suitcase Felicity is now rolling back to the loft stairs, “what are you doing?”

“Well, I can’t exactly move back into my apartment, now can I?” Felicity says dryly, “Your sister is coming in the morning and you can’t exactly be married and your  _ wife _ is living on the other side of town. I’ll stay here, we’ll pick her up from the airport, show her the place. She’ll give us the fifth degree and maybe you two can finally talk. She’ll probably head back to finish her European trip and a month or two you can tell her things didn’t work out between us. Easy enough, right?”

“Right.” Oliver echoes but he can’t help the last time he uttered those three words he and Felicity ended up sharing a  _ bed _ . 

He’s got a terrible feeling things are going to get _ much _ , more complicated than they already are. His sister’s mention of QC has him more nervous than he should be, but he can’t help but think Thea has  _ never _ shown interest in the family company and its not a coincidence that she’s bringing it up  _ along  _ with  his supposed marriage and that does not sit well with him at all.


	8. Chapter 7

Felicity runs her fingers through her hair yet again, twitching nervously as she slides from one side of the couch to the next unsure if she should sit here or leave the small couch for Thea and Oliver to sit. 

She’s being ridiculous; she knows where she sits isn’t going to make a difference. She’s met Thea Queen before, a handful of times in fact, she should not be  _ this _ nervous to meet the teen. 

Yesterday, after they successfully helped the police capture the culprits she thought she would be back home in her apartment wallowing over yet  _ another _ rejection from Oliver, as she caught up on her Netflix list and felt sorry for herself. Instead, she’s  _ still _ at this apartment and now pretending to play  _ house _ with Oliver just to help mend his relationship with his sister.

She doesn’t understand how she gets herself into these situations. Oliver  _ always _ gives her an out but once again she ignores it and finds herself waiting to  _ woo _ Thea Queen, despite the fact that she and Oliver aren’t even  _ together _ in the first place. 

She doesn’t understand why she cares so much for the young girl to like her. Especially after yesterday when Oliver put the final nail in their relationship. Or would-be relationship, as one hot makeout session  while under the influence of some drug, does not a relationship make.

She moves to get off the couch yet again but pauses when she hears loud voices. 

“I'm not going to let you in if you’re being this way.”

“Ollie, relax I'm just kidding. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“That's what worries me.” 

Felicity never gets to hear the response to that because as the front door opens both siblings pause almost as though they are surprised to see her. Felicity is dressed in jeans and a tank top. She had changed outfits three times before she realized she was being ridiculous, and part of her thinks it’s not so much meeting Thea Queen (although, she’ll admit that’s part of it), but more that she’s unsure what she needs to do. Pretending to be married in front of complete strangers is one thing, but Oliver’s sister is a whole other can of worms.

“Felicity.”

“Hi  _ honey,”  _ Felicity greets as she plasters a fake smile on her face. Thea is looking at her suspiciously while Oliver’s expression is unreadable, “Was there a lot of traffic?”

As soon as the words leave her mouth Felicity is ready for the floors open up swallow her whole. She’s trying way too hard and Thea is on high alert as it is.

“Not much,” Oliver says lightly 

He takes a step towards her and rests his arm around her shoulders, his touch slightly hesitant and Felicity can feel the way he tenses when he touches her.

She knows things are tense between the two of them, but they are never going to convince his sister that they are happily married if they are so uncertain around each other. Felicity shuffles slightly closer to Oliver and snakes her arm around his waist, her fingers just lightly hooking on the band of his jeans. She places her head on Oliver’s chest allowing the familiar musty smell that is all Oliver to take over her senses and smiles at Thea warmly. “Hi Thea, it's nice to properly meet you. Your brother was so excited that you decided to come back to Starling earlier than planned.”

“Um, he didn't sound so enthusiastic on the phone, or in the car for that matter.”

Felicity can feel Oliver tense next to her and she's about to try and defuse the situation when much to her surprise, Thea is the first to speak.

“So, how long were you two dating?” Thea asks her tone still filled with suspicion. 

She moves to the small living room area and takes a seat on the lone loveseat and both Oliver and Felicity shuffle into the small space, Oliver taking a seat on the ottoman while Felicity sits next to Thea. She has to mentally remind herself not to look so tense, she looks across at Oliver and she realizes he’s not faring any better. The fact that they are both afraid of a teenager would almost be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that Thea finding out they were lying was just not an option.

“About a year and a half.” Felicity looking over at Oliver, before she could stop herself and Oliver nods in agreement. 

They had not discussed what their story was going to be, all because they are both at such odds with each other to begin with, something Felicity realizes they are going to have to deal with if they are going to pull this off. Luckily, Thea seems to have missed their exchange.

“I saw you at Mom’s funeral.” Thea says quietly, and Felicity can see the guilt begin to settle on Oliver’s face, the guilt she knows that has been plaguing him for the past few weeks. It’s after all the reason why he’s trying so hard to get his sister to move back to Starling. “You use to be at the club, when Ollie and Tommy first opened it.”

Felicity nods in confirmation but does not elaborate more. Thea is clearly not finished with whatever assessment she’s trying to make. Felicity can see Oliver shifting uncomfortably on the ottoman. She knows it’s not the seat, but his sister’s words striking a chord and without even thinking about it, Felicity reaches out and grabs his hand in comfort.

“I tried to get him to go but…”

“I just couldn’t go,” Oliver confesses his voice cracking slightly, his grip tightening around Felicity’s fingers as he looks at his sister apologetically. “I’m sorry, Speedy. I should have been there for you.”

“You should have,” Thea agrees, her voice trembling slightly, but she shakes her head when Oliver makes a move towards her. “We Queens aren’t the best at dealing with things.”

“Tell me about it,” Felicity quips dryly, and then freezes when she realizes she spoke that out loud. She looks across at Oliver sheepishly, who is trying to hide his smile, but it’s Thea’s soft laugh that makes her relax.

“So, you hired your girlfriend to be your secretary?” Thea asks and despite her soft laughter before Felicity knows the younger woman is here with an agenda and much like the Queen matriarch before her, Thea is not going to back down.

Felicity can’t help but admire the Queen family and their protective streak, although it might be executed in questionable ways, most of the time, it’s clear that they love each other dearly.

“After Mom was arrested, I knew I needed someone I could trust, the company was in a bad state facing a hostile take over and I couldn’t just have anyone in my office. I trust Felicity with my life,” Oliver says with sincerity. 

 

He’s never gave Felicity a proper explanation as to why he hired her, other than the Arrow excuse of course, and as he sits in front of his sister, his thumb brushing against Felicity’s knuckles in an almost soothing manner, Felicity just knows in her heart of hearts that his words are true. They aren’t just to placate his sister, but his words are honest and true.

Felicity squeezes his hand in gratitude, all those months ago when he sprung that decision without consulting her, she was livid. She has never let a man make any decisions for her, especially when it comes to her job, but at the time there were so many things going on and Oliver  _ had _ made valid points, she just let the issue slide. Despite having forgiven him ages ago for that decision it’s still nice to hear a proper explanation for his choices.

“Felicity actually worked in QC’s IT department. That’s how we met.” Oliver says with a fond smile, and Felicity can’t help but look across at him and return the sentiment, Thea watching them closely.

“Oh yes, your brother had some laptop troubles and I helped him out.” Felicity picks up the story with ease smiling mischievously, “After that he kept coming back with the most  _ ridiculous _ excuses until I had pity on him and asked him out.”

“Damn, Ollie and here I thought you had better game than that.” Thea says with teasing grin.   

Oliver only huffs lightly in response, his fingers ever so slightly tightening around Felicity’s hand. Felicity only grins in return. She told him they should have come up with a proper story, but he opted to just tell their story.

Thea’s phone suddenly vibrates and she looks down and it briefly then back at Oliver, “I made an appointment with Jean.” 

“Jean?” Oliver asks confused but then his eyes widen in realization. “ Jean Loring? Mom’s attorney? What the hell for?”

“Ollie,  _ Jean  _ was the one who called me. She told me about the marriage. She said this could help you get the company back. Win the board over.”

“What?” Both Oliver and Felicity utter simultaneously.

This is not good, not good at all. No one else was suppose to know. They were supposed to fool Thea and then let things run their course, hoping people would just forget and realize it was just rumors. In hindsight, they should have realized that was a stupid plan to begin with.

“Well originally she called about getting Felicity to sign a prenup and…”

“Why the hell didn't Jean just call  _ me _ about all of this? I'm the one that's been trying to get the company back and  _ she _ said she can no longer work for the Queen family. I've been trying to get her to find a legal loophole after the Isabel Rochev fiasco.” 

Oliver rises to his feet and starts pacing the small space tugging on his hair in frustration. He looks at Felicity apologetically and then back at Thea, who to his surprise is now looking slightly uncomfortable. “Jean owes me a favor. That’s why she called me. She read about it in the Star and she figured that if by chance that stupid magazine actually got something right it could work in your favor.”

“What kind of favor could she possibly owe you?” Oliver asks in confusion.

Felicity sits silently as she watches the two siblings, she feels as though she's invading a personal family matter, but as far as Thea is concerned she  _ is _ family and she has to fight the urge to get up and give them some privacy.

“When those  _ monsters _ took over the city. Slade’s men. I was at the train station.” Thea takes a deep breath and Felicity watches as all the anger drains from Oliver and he moved to squat in front of his sister. 

Felicity can practically see the questions running through Oliver's mind, they were both under the impression that Thea got out before things got worse, after all Roy told her that Thea left right away.

“There was a woman screaming, begging one of the men to stop and I just … I just reacted and took one of the broken metal stakes and stabbed him in the neck. I didn’t think … I …”

“Hey. It's okay you did what you had to do to survive.” Oliver gathers her in his arms and Felicity discretely moves off the couch to give them room. “Those men, Slade turned them into monsters. You didn't kill him.”

“Ollie, I stabbed him the in back, literally there is no way …” Thea’s voice trembles as she speaks and she buries her face in Oliver’s chest.

“Those men they were given some kind of serum that made them invincible,” Oliver explains. “You injured him, but you didn't kill him. Trust me on that.”

Thea sniffles softly, but nods her head nonetheless, gone was this strong woman and in her place was just Oliver’s little sister who is searching for comfort and reassurance that  _ she _ is not the monster she thought she was.

“So the woman’s life you saved, it was Jean’s?” Felicity asks softly, speaking for the first time and she’s certain the siblings probably forgot she was there. “As someone who has been saved by the Arrow more times than I can count, I'm eternally grateful to him. There aren't enough words to express that kind of gratitude.” 

Oliver looks slightly guilty, but Felicity grabs his hand and squeezes it tightly trying to convey her emotions without saying anything in front of Thea. She refuses to let him blame himself for all the times she ended up in danger. “You did good Thea, not many people can handle those kind of situations.”

“Yea.” Thea says softly as she plays over Felicity’s words and much like her brother, Felicity is certain the younger girl feels guilty one way or the other. “She called me about this new angle she found and she wanted me to convince Ollie to take it. She can explain it better than I can.”

“We’ll go see Jean and then go out for lunch.” 

Oliver’s head whips around at Felicity’s suggestion, “Felicity.”

“It won’t hurt to hear her out, Oliver,” Felicity reasons. But they both know bringing in a lawyer of all things is the  _ last  _ thing they need, especially when they aren't even  _ legally _ married. But, this company belongs to Oliver’s family and it’s the last bit Oliver has of his parents. She can't, in good conscience, just ignore the opportunity, despite the fact that she knows exactly what it implies for  _ her _ and their pseudo relationship. “This is your family’s company, Oliver.”

By the time Oliver reluctantly agrees that feeling of foreboding has returned in full force for Felicity.

* * *

 

“I'm not doing a prenup. She’s not signing a prenup.” Oliver all but growls as he stalks Jean Loring’s small office. He looks across at Felicity, eyes blazing and if Felicity wasn't used to this kind of anger from Oliver she would have flinched in surprise. “You are not signing a prenup.”

“Alright, I think everyone got your point.” Felicity remarks sarcastically, but she can't ignore the flutter in her stomach at Oliver’s insistence. It’s not unheard of that someone of her background, a former secretary, would sign a prenup when marrying into a family as wealthy as the Queens. Felicity shakes her head, she would have to sign if anything were  _ real _ that is. All this lying she and Oliver are doing is beginning to blur the line between fiction and reality. “Now are you going to sit and let Ms. Loring explain herself?”

From the moment they entered the office, the lawyer had been going on about protecting the Queen family estates and finances, at least what was left of it, more specifically Oliver’s trust funds, as well as the inheritance from his mother. He may have lost the family company and estates, but his mother’s will left a significant amount of money as well as family heirlooms in his and Thea’s name all of which was still being processed at the moment through other lawyers. As soon as Ms. Loring insinuated that Felicity only married Oliver for the Queen’s fortune, Oliver went on a tirade.

Suffice to say, Oliver didn't take to kindly to Ms. Loring and Felicity is almost tempted to let his anger get the best of him and they could walk away from this before things get even more complicated, but she’d never forgive herself if Oliver didn't venture down every possible avenue to get back his family’s company. 

“No offense, Ms. Smoak, but when the former CEO of a fortune 500 company marries his secretary just  _ weeks _ after losing his mother and thus inheriting a  _ legacy _ to say the least, I only see red flags.”

“If I was going to marry Oliver for his money, wouldn't I have done it  _ before  _ he lost his family company, house and basically almost the entire Queen family fortune?” Felicity remarks, the sarcasm dripping from every word. 

The audacity of this woman. 

“For someone who graduated top of my year at MIT in Cyber Security you would think I’d have more sense to just  _ take _ the money and send it to some offshore account discretely rather than go through the legalities of marrying into one of the richest families on the West Coast. I suspect there are a lot of obligations when it comes to this sort of thing. I wouldn't have to be sitting in this office listening to some lawyer accuse me of trying to steal what little money Oliver has left, most of which is still being cleared through his mother’s will.” 

After her outburst the room is silent except for the soft humming of the central air. 

Thea is looking at Felicity with slight admiration while Oliver tries to hide his smile. Jean Loring is taken aback, to say the least, clearly not expecting that outburst from Felicity, nor was she expecting Felicity to know so much about the state of the Queen family’s finances. 

“Alright, Ms Smoak...or is it Mrs. Queen now?”

The basic question startles Felicity, to say the least, the few people whom they have come into contact just automatically assumed Felicity’s last name was Queen, but Jean Loring clearing did her research on Felicity and knows that's not the case. Fear starts to set in and Felicity begins to wonder just how much digging Jean Loring truly did.

“She’s still contemplating it,” Oliver jumps in noting Felicity’s blunder. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat as both Thea and Jean stare at him both obviously noting the sudden bit of unease both Felicity and Oliver are displaying. “Like you both are so keen to point out, this was very sudden for us and we’re still adjusting.”

“Funny, when I got wind of this marriage two days ago I was under the assumption the two of you got married in Vegas. That is where you’re from, right Ms. Smoak?”

As Felicity suspected Jean did do some kind of background check on her. “I am, but we did not go to Vegas, we went to city hall. It was quick and simple. In fact I'm sure if you have one of your assistants request the certificate you’ll be able to get a copy of it by this time tomorrow.” 

The snarky words are out of her mouth before she can truly register what she’s implying she can feel Oliver’s fingers pressing into her knee. She wasn't even aware that his hand was there in the first place.

“I'm sure Mrs Loring doesn't need our certificate. Or anything else for that matter,” Oliver says through clenched teeth and Felicity doesn't dare look at him in case she loses her own resolve.

“Actually, in case a prenup …” But Jean trails off at the glare Oliver sends her. “Very well then I'd like to get down to the main reason I called your sister. Despite your parents misgivings and all the um … extracurricular activities your father had been up to…”

Oliver looks across at Thea with concern, and Felicity knows first hand that the young girl’s  parentage has been a sore subject between the two siblings. However, to both her and Oliver’s surprise Thea seems to take things with stride and just gestures for Jean to continue.

“Right behind the scenes stuff aside, Queen Consolidated has always been a family company. Your grandfather founded it 60 years ago and then your father took over, naturally they would have both been pleased that you are finally invested in the company. That said, recent events have left the board less than pleased with some decisions you have made. While Moira’s death was tragic and a huge loss, they are fully aware that your leadership before this has been less than stellar to say the least. This, along with Moira’s involvement in The Undertaking, has the board hesitant to give the Queen family back full control of the company.”

Oliver shifts uncomfortably in his seat but only nods in understanding at Jean’s hard, but truthful words. “I’ve changed though, I'm ready to take on this responsibility now.”

Jean sighs as she leans back on her chair and rubs her temple, “You say that Oliver but your previous actions have shown otherwise and naturally the board is hesitant to trust you.”

Felicity frowns as Oliver’s shoulders slump in defeat. She'd hoped that this meeting would have been a turning point for him.

“But, that’s where Ms. Smoak comes in,” Jean says, the slight hesitance in her voice making Felicity wary. 

“I went to MIT,” Felicity says unnecessarily. “I don't see how I can…”

“Queen Consolidated has always been a family company,” Jean interrupts. “And according to the media Oliver Queen is no longer an eligible bachelor. Oliver Queen is now a husband, he has a family, responsibilities other than himself. These are things the board wants to see. However, running off to Vegas to get hitched is not the makings of a responsible adult, certainly not from Oliver Queen. We need to show that you ran off with your former secretary because you are in love and not in lust and certainly not because of the sudden loss of your mother. Naturally, we’ll keep up appearances for the next few months, give the board what they want to see and if Oliver has truly changed his behavior then they would not care if a few months from now things have fizzled out between you are your new bride.”

“Wait. What?” Felicity stutters in confusion her fingers going slack against Oliver’s thigh. Jean Loring looks at both her and Oliver with pointed knowing expressions, but it's Thea who speaks first.

“It's okay Ollie, we know this is probably some kind of fling, but Jean thinks with the press you’ve been getting there is a way to turn it around for you to get the company back, that is if Felicity doesn't mind helping out for a bit. We know she also lost her job and this…”

Thea trails off at her brother’s look of incredulity, and while Felicity knows the two women aren't blackmailing her into help she also knows it's an incentive to help. However, Felicity doesn't want to be that girl, she's not going to have these women sympathize with her because they think she's just Oliver’s flavor of the month and won't stick around.

Oliver may have put the brakes on their relationship, but Felicity will be damned if she lets them think that. Oliver means more to her that what both women are implying. 

“Actually…” Oliver begins and Felicity knows almost immediately that he's about to spill the beans

“We did get married,” Felicity insists. She leans forward to grasp Oliver’s hands very aware of the skepticism on both women’s faces. “In city hall last week, you can check for yourself. I believe with our consent you should be able to access them tomorrow?”

She can practically feel Oliver’s eyes boring into the back of her skull as she looks at both women head on. “After Slade Wilson’s men tried to overtake the city…”

“I finally told Felicity how I really feel.” Oliver chimes in startling Felicity to say the least, with both women’s attention on him Oliver continues with his tale, “And things progressed, but then last week. Last week, Felicity got kidnapped by a colleague of Sebastian Blood’s who also worked for Slade Wilson, she was missing for three days.”

“Slade’s men kidnapped you too?” Thea asks her voice soft and uncertain, and Felicity knows the young girl is thinking about her own kidnapping.

“Brother Blood was something different to Slade and his army of  _ monsters.”  _ Felicity answers her voice hard, she can feel Oliver tensing besides her. “But thanks to the Arrow and his friends ... They saved me both times. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for his red hooded friend.”

Thea’s eyes widen in recognition, Felicity purposely mentioning Roy to the younger girl. Thea looks at Oliver almost for confirmation despite the fact that the young girl has no idea that her brother and the Arrow are one in the same.

“I think he’s calling himself Arsenal now,” Oliver offers a slight hint of confusion in his tone to show that he’s unsure of the Arrow’s team. “After the Arrow saved Felicity I realized I couldn't spend my life without her; I couldn't sit idly by and watch as numerous nuisances come along and drive a wedge to keep us apart. I love Felicity, I'm in love with her and I no longer want to spend my life apart from her.”

Felicity’s heart hammers in her chest, her palms sweating, dampening her jeans. Oliver’s words run through her head, words she’s been dying to hear for weeks and it feels like Oliver is laying all his cards out on the table but once again she's unsure if he means it or not.

“Ollie.”

“So we got married last week.” Oliver says with a soft shrug of his shoulders almost as though it's the only explanation. When his fingers dance along Felicity’s thigh just before clasping hers, Felicity releases a breath she wasn't aware she was holding.

The room is silent for a beat before Jean clears her throat and she leans forward her own fingers clasped together. Oliver’s speech clearly sparking something in the older woman, but unlike Felicity, Jean is almost gleaming in triumph.

“This is great. Perfect.” Jean says and Felicity has the imagine of a super villain rubbing their hands together in evil delight, but at Oliver’s glare the woman simmers a bit. “Not that you were kidnapped, obviously. But we can work with this, we can an official statement, make the board see that Oliver is not reverting back to his old ways. The drunk Vegas wedding is just rumors. Oliver Queen is ridiculously in love. We can do pictures, the works. I can work with this. I can work with this.”

At the word pictures Felicity looks across at Oliver in alarm and for once they are on the same page. 

Things are spiraling  _ way _ out of control.

Jean goes off muttering to herself, powering up her tablet almost as though she's forgotten they are there.

“Jean.” 

Jean looks up slightly startled basically confirming Felicity suspicions. “Oh Oliver, I'll speak to QC’s PR firm and get everything organized and get back to you tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping we’ll be able to make a public statement by the end of the week.” 

“A public statement? Jean I don't think…”

“Oliver if you truly want people, more specifically, the board of directors to take you seriously you have to have plans for this -- company plans -- to right your previous decisions and hope to improve them. I am guessing you have neither of those things.”

“I have been working on some things,” Oliver says indignantly, which is news to her and at her surprised look, he looks slightly shy. “I was working with Walter Steele for the past few weeks, but when Felicity was kidnapped….”

“It’s understandable.” Jean says with sympathy, “But we also need to use this in your favor, put the rumors to rest and show the board that you are following your father’s footsteps and are now Oliver Queen: Family Man.”

Oliver sighs in exasperation at being interrupted once again, but when he looks at Felicity almost for as though asking her permission to let Jean take the reins on this project Felicity can only nod in uncertainty. 

“Alright, Jean we’d like to be informed every step of the way. I don't want you or the PR team pulling things on us at all.” His voice is firm as he speaks which garners Jean’s attentions immediately.

“Alright.” Jean relents, but seems disgruntled at being held by a leash so to speak. “One last think. Ms Smoak isn’t  _ pregnant _ is she?”

“No!” Both Oliver and Felicity yell, appalled at the woman’s audacity.

“Jean, my brother’s relationship is not some kind of tabloid fodder.” Thea speaks her voice firm, surprising both Felicity and Oliver. “They gave you permission to use it to  _ inform _ the board and set rumors straight. You can not use it to feed the gossip mongers or for some kind of fairytale to sway investors. If Ollie says he has a plan for the company, then I trust him and his judgement. Use this to get Ollie’s foot in the door, or to get on the good side of the board and investors, but it's not the only thing Ollie has to offer.”

And just like that Felicity has flashbacks of Moira Queen and how she’d gain the entire room’s attention without even batting an eyelash. 

Jean slowly nods in agreement and then turns to Oliver who still seems to be equally shocked by his sister’s speech. “I'll call you in the morning to start finalizing a few things.”

* * *

 

Felicity and Oliver don't make it back to their apartment until much later that afternoon. After leaving Jean’s office they had a nice lunch with Thea, any hostility from before vanished after the meeting with Jean. Felicity was just glad to see how happy Oliver was to reconnect with his sister. The younger girl was still tight lipped about where she's been the last 6 weeks, which has Felicity thinking she's not where she said she was, but Oliver chose not to ask and so Felicity followed suit. 

“Felicity, we should really talk about this.” Felicity can hear Oliver pacing behind her, but she refuses to turn around to acknowledge him. They have been home all of five minutes and he’s beginning to panic.

“Talk about what, Oliver?” 

“I can’t ask you to do this.” He speaks softly his hand resting on her shoulder to get her attention.

Felicity sighs as she spins around on her makeshift chair to look up at him, “You didn’t ask, I offered … well actually I’m the only one who can forge a marriage licence and hack into the City Hall database but …”

“I’m not talking about the hacking and you know that,” Oliver says seriously, his eyes narrowing at her. “I’m talking about the marriage license, this goes well beyond pretending to be married.”

“Yes Oliver, I’m well aware of that.” Felicity responds dryly, “I’m the one creating the license out of thin air.”

“It’s a legal document.” 

“Yes, Oliver I know what it is.”

“We would be legally married.”

“I’m not an idiot, Oliver.” Felicity snaps. She can see he’s about to protest but she rises to her feet and levels him with a glare that has him clamping up immediately, “I know what I’m signing up for and what it entails and I choose to do this for you.”

“Do you really know what this entails?” Oliver counters. He shifts uncomfortably from one foot to the other, but his eyes never waver from her gaze, “This isn’t just us going on some mission for a week to take down some lowlife. This us agreeing to a commitment for at least a year, your social life would change drastically. Your entire life will be turned upside down I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Oliver, my life turned upside down the moment I met you.” Felicity says fondly. Her comment earns a small smile from Oliver, but then he sobers almost immediately, “Queen Consolidated is your family’s company, if there is a chance that I can help you get it back, of course I’m going to do it. I want to do this for you. Let me do this for you.”

Oliver sighs deeply, and Felicity just knows he’s trying to find another counterpoint for her, “It’s a serious commitment Felicity and a lot of me to ask of you. Your social life…”

Felicity can’t help but scoff at his last words, “What social life? My current social life consists of digitally running around with vigilantes and netflix binge when I can...oh and looking for a job I forgot about that, these past few days. I really need to start looking.”

“You don’t have to do that… look for a job I mean.” Oliver explains but Felicity doesn’t feel comforted at his statement, just because she’s marrying him doesn’t mean she’s going to turn into some kind of Betty Crocker wife that stays home all the time. “I meant QC. QC will always have a job for you once I’m CEO. It would be partially yours too.”

“Oliver.” Felicity warns, her fingers wringing nervously as she fights the urge to pace the small area behind her makeshift computer desk, “You cannot give me your company, that is  _ not _ the way to earn the board’s trust, not to mention investors would not approve either.”

“No. No. I meant you’ll always have a job there, even if you want to go back to the I.T. department, anything you want.” 

Felicity narrows her eyes, “Oliver, nepotism is hardly the way you want to start back your tenure as C.E.O.”

“Felicity, you’re hardly my sister.” 

“Oliver, I’m your  _ wife _ .” Felicity points out, her voice catching at the foreign word. Despite the ruse they have been conducting the last few days Felicity doesn’t think she ever called herself that. She looks at Oliver and can tell he too seems to register the severity of the situation, Felicity licks her lips and tests the words out slowly, “Wife...I guess that’s something we’ll have to get use to.”

“Right.” Oliver agrees, licking his own lips, mimicking her actions, “I guess instead of the box saying ‘Miss’ you’ll be ticking the one that says ‘Mrs.’ They are right next to each other.”

Felicity gasps taking a step backwards her hand going to her chest and her jaw dropping in large over exaggeration, “Oliver Queen, did you not only make a joke but a current pop culture reference?”

“Friends is hardly current.” Oliver teases. 

The previous tension slowly diffuses at Oliver’s ill timed joke. 

Felicity wrinkles her nose as she does the math, “wow that makes me feel incredibly sad and incredibly old.”

“You’re hardly  _ old _ Felicity,” Oliver points out, but then he sobers up. His blue eyes piercing into her his tone loses the humour and is now only filled with sincerity, “Thank you, for doing this for me.”

“You know I’d do anything for you.” Felicity confesses her words ringing true. She sees the way Oliver tenses at her admission and she quickly spins around to face her computer screens afraid to see the emotions that passing across Oliver’s face.

She’s not ready to face rejection once again, not after everything that has happened. She waits for Oliver to stop her, waits for him to say  _ something _ about her confession, but her shoulders only slump in disappointment when she hears his soft footfalls echoing in the distance as he walks up the stairs to the bedroom.

She looks at the bright screen before her and with the last few clicks of her fingers, she is no longer Ms. Felicity Smoak. 

There is no white dresses, no tears from her mother or loud cheers that accompany it. No husband holding her hand, looking at her as though she hung the moon in front of all their friends and family. Instead she’s sitting on a coffee table and the only sounds is the soft humming of her computers and the heavy footfalls above a telltale sign that her  _ husband  _ is currently pacing the small bedroom like a caged animal.

She is now Mrs. Felicity Smoak-Queen, nothing has changed and yet everything is different.


	9. Chapter 8

Despite the life alternating decisions the previous day, things in the loft are anything but okay. Without his sister there to act as a buffer, the loft has been downright frosty. Felicity has yet to speak to Oliver all day, other than informing him that everything has been put into place, not that Oliver had doubted her abilities in the slightest.

The silence in the loft is deafening and only increases Oliver’s guilt tenfold. 

Marrying Felicity is supposed to be a happy memory, if not the happiest memory he has. Guilt is the last thing he would have associated with marrying Felicity, but guilt is the only thing he’s feeling at the moment, along with a large bit of self deprecation. 

He hates this.

He wishes there was a way he could fix this make things right with Felicity, but he knows there is nothing he can do. He wants to be with her he wants to show her that this is it for him, but he knows there is no way he can ask that of her after he rejected her not once but twice in the last two months. 

Oliver is so lost in his own thoughts he doesn't hear Thea call out to him until she taps his arm with the handle of her knife. She is looking at him highly amused a smile on her face. Oliver doesn't know what happened between his sister and Roy, and he certainly  doesn't  _ want _ to know, but whatever it is, it brought back some of the lightness he hasn't seen in his sister for months.

“Mom’s ring, Ollie.” Thea clarifies. 

Right. Rings. 

Oliver and Felicity seemed to have forgotten that tiny detail, much like many aspects of this crazy plan of theirs. Thea suggested Oliver use their mother’s engagement ring that's currently in the Queen family vault at the bank, while Oliver and Felicity choose proper wedding rings. Yet another conversation Oliver is not looking forward too.

“Thea, I don't think…” Oliver trails off unsure how to explain his hesitancy to Thea.

Truth is marriage has never been in his thoughts, not even when he was with Laurel. Before the island Laurel hinted it enough, but Oliver pointedly ignored her and reacted badly by finding the nearest willing woman. 

He was a terrible person back then.

Since he’s been back and taking up the responsibility of being the Arrow, marriage and a family was just never in the cards for him.

Even after he admitted his feels for Felicity, to himself, he never entertained the the thought. In fact he tried his hardest not to think about a life with Felicity. Five year away taught him to harden his heart and it makes no sense to dwell over things he can't have.

Only, he now finds himself in a situation he wouldn't even allow himself to dream of much less overtake his conscious thoughts.

Married to Felicity Smoak.

He’s someone’s husband. He’s  _ Felicity’s  _ husband.

“Ollie, you and Felicity had this small whirlwind proposal and wedding, but the least you can do is get her some nice bling. Mom always wanted you to have that ring. Granted that may have been her way of trying to get you grow up, but the sentiment was still there. Maybe you can give Felicity a proper proposal. Go all out including the ring. From the little the two of you have told me, you just blurted it out after the Arrow saved her. In fact when I asked Roy about it he told me you asked her in front of him  _ and _ the Arrow. Oh crap I wasn't suppose to tell you Roy works for the Arrow. Ignore I said that. But really Ollie, don't you want to give Felicity a nice proposal story to tell to your kids?”

At the word kids Oliver stutters. His sister just bombarded him with so much information that he can't even begin to process, least of all the idea of  _ children _ . 

Yet, despite everything he can’t stop the image of a little blonde girl with clear blue eyes and a button nose smattered with freckles a splitting image of her mother, dancing in front of his almost taunting him with what he cannot have.

“Do you need help planning it?” Thea asks excitedly, obviously taking Oliver’s silence as though he’s already begun to plan, and not the actual torture he’s currently putting himself through.

“Thea, I'll figure it out on my own.” Oliver says shortly, but at seeing her crestfallen expression he quickly back tracks, “I have something in mind already, but if I need help I’ll call you. That is if you actually answer your phone.”

Thea shifts uncomfortably in her sea. they have barely touched the surface of where she's been these past few weeks, but with Oliver  and thus their family under such high scrutiny, it's probably best that no one knows where Thea is. “I just want to know you’re safe and not completely blowing away your entire trust fund.”

“I'm not. I promise, I just need some time to myself.” Thea says softly begging Oliver to understand, and if it's one thing Oliver gets, it's the need for solitude “

“Just take care of yourself.” Oliver says firmly following Thea’s lead and rising from the small table. There are a  bustling of other patrons and waiters around them as Oliver takes a step to hug his sister.

“I will. Call me when you two are ready to have an engagement party.”

Oliver chuckles at that, somethings may have changed but it's comforting to know some part of his sister will always remain. “We’re already married.”

He wonders if he says this enough, if he’ll actually begin to believe it. Thea looks at him pointedly, “So you’ll get the ring then? While you wait for the wedding rings to finish?”

Right, he almost forgot he told his sister the reason they didn’t have any wedding rings was because their wedding bands were being made and they should get it next week. There are no wedding bands, and he really needs to get on that. 

“C’mon Ollie, give your girl the nice elaborate proposal she deserves.” Thea jibes, taking note of his hesitancy.

Oliver almost automatically protests that Felicity isn’t  _ his _ girl, but then his sister doesn’t know that technically she is not in the way that counts, or the way he hopes she would be.

“I’ll pass by the bank on my way home.” Oliver concedes, he might as well make  the best of a tricky situation.

0ooooo0

“So are you going to tell me why you avoiding home and why Felicity has been avoiding  _ here _ the past few days?” Diggle stands at the food of the exercise mats patting his face dry with a towel.

It's been a few days since his sister’s visit and the sudden shift in his and Felicity’s relationship and things have been on a stalemate between them. Felicity announced that their wedding is as legal and that was it there were no words exchanged the small apartment had just been uncomfortably silent.

Oliver realized Felicity needed some space and so he took of to the lair to let off some of his own steam, that's how Diggle found him pounding the punching bags.

“I'm giving her space.” Oliver grunts as his knuckles swipe the warn material repeated.

“That’s what most husbands do after getting married. Give their wives space.” Diggle remarks dryly.

Oliver grunts in annoyance, but stops his attack on the punching bag to face Diggle, who offers him a bottle of water and towel. Oliver knows that he is in for a long lecture.

“Felicity told you.”

“Actually, Roy did. Thea mentioned she’ll have an engagement party to plan when she gets back to Starling.” Diggle folds his arms across his broad chest his eyes narrowing in disprove like at Oliver, “Turns out her brother is going to give Felicity a  _ real _ proposal and she wants to throw a party for the two of you, even though the two of you are already married. Oliver how did you and Felicity going undercover turn into your sister planning your  _ engagement  _ party and that the two of you are now  _ legally _ married? How could you let something like that happen?”

Oliver sighs as he toss this towel to the side and makes his way to his clothes that are hanging off of Felicity’s chair. He rummages through his jeans and pulls out a small box. He spins around and flips the lid open presenting the box to Diggle. 

“Oliver, what are you doing man?” Diggle asks with a shake of his head. “A few weeks ago the two of you were barely talking. If you want to  make a grand gesture this is not how you do it.”

“I want to show her this is what I want.  _ She _ is what I want. Everything happened so quickly and so many things got taken away from her, from us. She’s doing this favor for me and my family’s company. I just want to do something for her in return.”

“And you think  _ proposing  _ is the way to do that?” Diggle asks incredulously, “you want to marry her for all the wrong reasons.”

“Diggle, we’re already  _ married _ . Documents were signed and everything, she sent me a file asked me to sign it on my  _ phone  _ then she sent the files into the database. That was it. All of this is just a way for me to get back my family’s company and she’s doing this for me and I need to do something for her. I need her to still have this moment.”

“She’s not going to see it like that.” Diggle warns, “Why don't you start off small, buy her dinner. Go on a date, the two of you have never even been on a date. Just because you are legally married doesn't mean you can't start from the beginning. It's a bad situation all around, but you can still start things off on the right foot.

He knows Diggle is making sense, he knows that proposing is  _ not _ what he should be thinking about. He and Felicity aren't even on the same page when it comes to their relationship, something he knows is entirely his fault.

He wants to fix it. He needs to fix it.

But he thinks asking her out on a  _ date  _ is just taking them five steps back he wants Felicity to know that he’s committed to this, to giving them a shot but he’s afraid she’ll just say no to a date. He needs to show her it's more than just dating her they are more than that, that she means more to him than that.

It’s just he has this perfect ring and he feels like he should go all out for her. The ring has been in his pocket for days now, and he’s been countless hours at night staring at him, imagining all these scenarios with Felicity. A life with Felicity and every single situation she has this ring on her finger. 

He needs to show her how much she truly means to him.

He loves her. He’s in love with her and he knows he needs to convince her that he does.

“I’ve got it covered, Dig.” Oliver says as he wipes his face, his decision already made.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Diggle remarks dryly, he picks up one of the sparring sticks and tosses it to Oliver, “let’s go a few rounds. Hopefully I'll knock some sense into you and you don't go and do what I know you wanna do.”

Oliver grunts in return tossing his towel to the side and then makes his way towards Diggle, “I need to show her...I have to show her how much...that I…”

“That you love her?” Diggle offers as he and Oliver begin to circle each other, “Oliver, man if you can't even tell  _ me _ that you love her, how do you expect to tell  _ her?” _

“Well I'm not confessing my love for you now am I?” Oliver growls as he spins around the sound of the wooden sticks clanging together.

“Lyla wouldn't be too pleased.” Diggle says with a grin narrowing avoiding Oliver’s advances.

Oliver only laughs in return, “how has she been doing?”

Diggle narrows his eyes clearly realizing that Oliver is purposely trying to change the topic away from Felicity, but Oliver knows his friend and these days it takes very little for the older man to talk all things baby related.

“Better, she’s in the middle of her second trimester, getting bigger, less morning sickness and best of all less cranky.”

“You helped me take down supersoldiers, but you’re afraid of your pregnant wife?” Oliver jabs smirking when he gets a hit in, yet again.

“Not my wife.” Diggle grunts in return spinning on his heels hoping to swipe Oliver off his feet but Oliver jumps over him with ease there sticks still clanging with each forceful hit, “Like you could even begin to handle a pregnant Felicity.”

The idea of a round and pregnant Felicity pops into Oliver’s brains so suddenly he doesn't have time to process Diggle’s next move and he finds himself flat on his back his friend’s stick at his neck and he’s smirking down at Oliver in amusement knowing exactly where Oliver’s mind went

“Two out of three?”

0oooo0

He’s standing in the living room now his mother's ring an ever present fixture with him now burning a hole into the pocket of his pants. It’s nagging him practically demanding that he finally put the ring to use. Felicity is none the wiser as she patters around the small room her phone in her ear as she speaks to a sublet for her current apartment. 

She looks frazzled, her blonde hair is high in a messy ponytail most of the strands plastered to her face rather than the sleek look Oliver is use too. Her glasses are perched on her nose as she rubs her eyes tiredly as she explains why she's subletting six months and no longer. 

She’s barely acknowledged him other than vaguely gesturing to the large brown envelope on the kitchen counter.  Apparently the physical documents of their marriage finally arrived today and that too seems to be mocking Oliver, demanding that he finally do something. He’s been in limbo too long.

He's unsure if she's still upset with him or if she's just going crazy with organizing her apartment. He never meant to upheave her life this badly. 

He’d contemplated asking her to just move into her apartment but he's unsure if she would want her space overtaken by him and his stuff as well, at least with this apartment it's neutral ground for the both of them. He's at a lost at how to fix things for her, make things better, but he knows there is not much he can do. 

He does have a plan though, it's probably a stupid plan a really stupid plan. There is a small voice in his head that sound suspiciously like Diggle telling him this is a terrible idea, but Oliver has learned to ignore that voice in the last two years.

“Do I have some kind of magnet for hard headed people?” Felicity asks scowling at her phone angrily. 

She looks at Oliver sheepishly almost at though she forgot he was there, which Oliver suspects she did.

“Why don't take a bath and relax?” Oliver offers. He takes her phone from her ignore her soft protests as he ushers her to the stairs, “You have been talking about that bathtub for ages.”

“It is a clawfoot tub.” Felicity says with a soft sigh that causes Oliver’s pants to tighten almost immediately but he quickly tries his best to ignore that feeling. Felicity though narrows her eyes suspiciously at him and Oliver almost looks down at his crotch in fear that she noticed his body’s reaction to her, “what are you up to?”

“Nothing.” Oliver insists, his hand lingers on her back before she spins around on the bottom step to look down at her, “I know how overwhelming all this has been for you and with the press conference tomorrow I know you’re a bit on edge. Now, you can't even go back to your own home to relax.”

“Oliver, you don't need to apologize again. I offered to do this for you.” 

He can hear the exasperation and exhaustion in his tone and he wants nothing more to apologize again and make things better for but he doesn't know how. He does know though that arguing with her is not the way to go. He takes a step forward invading her personal space in the process. He can hear the way her breath hitches at his close proximity, but he doesn't back down, his eyes firmly locked on her. He takes her hand in his and squeezes it gently, “I know I just don’t want you to think I am taking for granted what you did...are doing.”

Felicity smiles warmly and squeezes his hand in return.  

“I know you’d do the same for me.” She wrinkles her nose in that cute way Oliver adores, “you know if I was accused of illegal activities and you didn’t want to testify against me. Which very much could happen happen after all the things I’ve done for team Arrow. Oh god I'm a criminal.”

“Felicity, you are not a criminal.” Oliver says with a laugh, but off her pointed look her rolls his eyes, “okay, so maybe you have done some unsavory things….my point is I don't need that kind of reason to marry you.”

This is this is the moment Oliver was hoping for.

“Well yea cause we’re already mar...Oliver what are you  _ doing? _ ”

Oliver is down on one knee now, Felicity's hand has gone limp in his own as he holds up his mother’s ring for her still nestled in the red velvet box.

“Oliver, what are you…”

“Felicity, for the past 7 years I've been living in the motions. I’ve spent the last two years trying to right my wrongs and make up for all the things I've done while I was away. I lived 5 years unable to let my guard down, unable to trust anyone. You were the first person I could see as a real person. You were the first person I could see myself with, someone I could build a life with, someone I  _ want  _ to build a life with. I know I told you I couldn't be the Arrow and be with you, but I feel like the universe had other plans for us and I don't want to pretend anymore. I want to be with you, all of you. Will you marry me, for real?”

“Oliver.” 

She mutters his name her eyes filled with tears as Oliver holds his breath, but the moment she starts shaking her head, his heart plummets.

“I'm sorry, I can’t do this.” She sobs out, about to spin around and head up the stairs but Oliver holds onto her hand.

“I don't understand.” He says his own voice broken, he looks at her pleadingly, “I thought we were on the same page. I thought this is what you wanted, for us to be together?”

“I wanted you to choose us because  _ you  _ wanted to be together. Not because you were forced to marry me.” 

“Felicity, you know that's not true!” He protest going to grab her hand again but Felicity raises it stopping him in his tracks.

“Do I? All I know is three days ago you told me I was a distraction and we couldn't be together if you are to be the Arrow. Now, the ‘universe’ as you so kindly put it, basically shove us together for you decided to what make it real? Look around Oliver, none of this is real! This apartment, this relationship none of it is real. You buying a ring and saying a few heartfelt words doesn't make it real. I know why you’re doing this, you’re guilty that we’re stuck in this predicament, you feel as though I was forced to this and so you want to make it up to me. But this, giving me some sweet proposal is only making things worse, it's blurring the lines and makes things that much harder when this things end.”

“I don't want this to end though.” Oliver protests unsure how else to convince her that he meant what he said.

“I'm sorry Oliver but I don't believe you. How can I when every time things get rough, or I end up in danger the very first thing you do is pull away? It happens when I was kidnapped and then it happened again a few days ago. I keep telling you that I chose this life, working with you, John and Roy gives my life purpose, something that I enjoy doing. I choose to be here and I’d choose you too but you won't let me. You made up your mind that you can’t have both, but now because we are being forced to do both, you think we'll since we’re already there on paper, we might as well make the best of it? We deserve better than that.  _ I _ deserve better than that.”

“Felicity, you know how I feel about you. You’ve probably known longer than  _ I  _ have. I'm not just doing this because we got married. You have to know how much I love…”

“ _ No!”  _ Felicity sharp protest  has the words dying on his lips, his hurt plummeting, “I don't want you say that and for it to be tainted by this ruse as well.”

Hope flares in his chest at her words and as always Felicity reads him like a book, but she only shakes her head and snaps the ring box close. It was still clasped in his free hand that was now limp at his side, “the ring is lovely Oliver I'm sure it's some kind of Queen family heirloom and worth more 100 of my cars, but I can't accept it. In the envelope on the table there are some simple wedding bands I was able to get, it's for the press conference in the morning.”

He knows a dismissal when he hears one, he knows a rejection all too well. He sighs deeply but nods nonetheless, pocketing the ring once again. 

He refuses to give up on her, give up on them. 

He knows he only has himself to blame, after all the times he’s given her false hope, but not this time. He’ll spend however long it takes to convince her that he meant everything he said in that proposal. 

“I'm not apologizing for the proposal.” He says with conviction, and he can see he has surprised her, “I meant everything I said and I won't stop showing you how I feel.”

She looks sceptical but doesn't protest, they both know between the two of them he is definitely the more stubborn one. 

“I'm going to take that bath now.” She says it in a meek voice, her eyes lingering on the ring box in Oliver’s hand before she spins around and heads up the stairs. 

In that moment Olive makes a promise to himself that his mother’s ring will end up on her hand and for all the right reasons.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No your eyes are not deceiving you, this is an update after 100000 years. I apologize for the delay writers block is a serious problem, I only hope I am able to keep up with it. Thank you all for your continue support of this fic despite the delay it means a lot to me.

Felicity walks down the stairs, a large laundry basket clutched to her chest. She is so focused on walking down the narrow stairway, she doesn’t notice Oliver until she hears a soft scraping of the chair against the wooden floor. She looks up startled, she is still getting use to living with another person, only to see Oliver looking more defeated than she’s ever seen him. He’s sitting at the center counter surrounded by a scattered pile of papers. He looks like he hasn’t moved from his seat since she peaked over the banister before her bath  _ and _ nap at least 5 hours ago. 

Part of her wants to walk out the room pretending she didn’t see him, but the other part of her can’t ignore the defeated look on his face. She’s familiar with that look all too well, she’s just not use to being the  _ cause _ of that look. Despite what her head has been telling her for the past few hours, she knows she can’t in good conscience just ignore him, not when he looks like his world is crumbling around him.

“I...uh..I’m going to do laundry.” Felicity offers unnecessarily, she knows that despite the fact that he has yet to look up from his pile of notes, Oliver’s seat gives him a perfect view of the entire apartment, including up in the loft bedroom and he’s probably seen her puttering around the room gathering the few dirty clothes that have been gathering in the last few days. “I took yours as well.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” Oliver says quickly, finally looking across at her his cheeks pinking up and Felicity suspects it has to do with her handling his unmentionables. Not that Oliver  _ has _ unmentionables, a few black cotton boxers does not unmentionables make. Now, if  _ Oliver _ were to do her laundry then that would be something for her to blush about. 

“It’s no big deal, I mean that’s what wives do right?” She quips, her tone much harsher than she intended and she knew she should have just left without engaging him in conversation. “Sorry, that was uncalled for. We both know between the both of us you’re probably more Martha Stewart than I am.”

There was an incident the night before where Felicity thought she would try making scrambled eggs, there was more shells in the egg than anything else and it was woefully undercooked. Oliver offered to help with it but she stubbornly refused. 

At her comment, Oliver only huffs out a short laugh, the exact response she was hoping for to break the ice, but her moment is short live when Oliver doesn’t say much else. “What are you working on?”

Oliver sighs rubbing his face tiredly, and she knows now that his current dilemma isn’t about them but about the company. They have been so focused on the shift in their relationship, that neither of them have been really putting effort into Oliver’s meeting with the board. Which is terrible on both their parts since it’s the reason they are in this mess in the first place.

“Some reports and my proposal to get the company back on its feet.” Oliver offers, he rubs his fingers together, a telltale that he’s nervous and this stalemate between them needs to end  _ before _ they go in front of the board if they expect to convince a bunch of strangers that they are married and in love. “I...I took some of your suggestions and I think I want to work on rebuilding the Applied Science division. Start off small, like you said, get one person to run a group of 4 or 5 scientist and work on some a new device or something that can give the company some footing in this technologically saturated world we are living in.”

Felicity grins as he quotes some of her words back to her almost word for word, minus the technical jargon. She slides onto a nearby stool, Oliver taking that as an invitation to slide a folder over to her. She wrinkles her nose at all the paper in front of her, “Oliver, we’ve been through this if you’re gonna be CEO of a company hoping to leave its footprints in this ‘technologically saturated’ world. You are going to need to embrace technology and actually get a  _ tablet _ . I’ll order one for you this week, set it up and everything, we can even transfer all these files... _ handwritten _ notes… wow I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen handwritten notes.”

Oliver grunts moving to take the notebook back from her, but she places her hand over his stopping him and they both freeze at the sudden contact. Felicity pulls back her hand cradling it in her lap as though she was just burnt. 

Another thing  _ she _ needs to work on it trying not act like Oliver’s touch affects her  _ that _ much.

“Sorry.” She mutters, placing her hands back on the counter, pointedly ignoring Oliver’s hurt expression. She clears her throat and speaks more firmly, “I’m sorry. You clearly put a lot of effort into this proposal and I’m giving you a hard time on your method.”

“I...uh...I did something.” Oliver shifts uncomfortably in his seat and a feel of dread overcomes her, nothing good comes from Oliver when he looks  _ that _ guilty. “I took your words to heart and my first meeting a few weeks ago I suggested building the Applied Science division from the ground up and the board loved the idea….”

“Oliver! That’s great news!” Felicity claps in excitement so much as to lean forward and engulf him in a hug, he freezes all for a brief second before he wraps his arms around her accepting her hug. 

She can smell that musty, woodsy smell that is all Oliver and she has to remind herself to pull back and not get lost in the feeling of his broad arms surrounding her. Not for the first time Felicity wonders if she was too harsh to refuse his proposal the previous day, her mind has been grappling with his words for  _ hours _ now and she still no closer to figuring out what she wants, or what she  _ should _ do.

She’s playing with fire.

“I gave the board your name for the head of the applied science division.” 

“You...you  _ what _ ?” Felicity demands, she squeezes the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath before she looks at Oliver incredulously. He at least has the mind to look thoroughly chastised, “Oliver, please don’t tell me you once again promoted me in your company without even  _ informing _ me.”

“Technically, it’s  _ our _ company now.”

“Don’t!” Felicity warns her finger pointing accusingly at him, “don’t even  _ go _ down that road. Did you not hear  _ anything _ I told you last year when you made me your EA? I don’t understand how you expect us to have a relationship, a  _ marriage _ if you won’t discuss these decisions that affect me,  _ with _ me first.”

“This was in the works before we got married.” Oliver insists as though  _ that _ makes everything better, “I was going to tell you my plans, but then you got kidnapped, and the board wanted a mock up and I’m trying to be the Arrow and run this company, so I sent the mock up proposal without consulting you. I’m doing it now though, I can still scrap everything. Just say the word.”

“Oliver…”

“Just hear me out first?” He poses it as question, and she knows he is waiting for her to give him the okay, otherwise she knows he would literally just tear up all his notes and start over again if she wants that. “When I promoted you to be my EA, the very first thing you told me that you have a  _ masters _ from MIT, not secretarial school. The Applied Science division needs a scientist they need someone who is not only familiar with the ins and out of the company, but also someone who can keep up with the engineers and software people…”

“Those are engineers as well.” Felicity corrects, her resolve slowly crumbling, because she can already see where this is going.

“If I’m going to have someone run one of the most important aspects of my family’s company. I’m going to need someone I cant trust and someone who is qualified to hire to the right team and actually knows what they are talking about and ensure the company’s needs are met.”

“Oliver, have you ever heard of nepotism?” Felicity counters, she wants  _ him _ to come to realization this is a terrible idea, but she knows once Oliver has made up his mind there is no changing it.

“Yes, you asked me this yesterday, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I ended up with this job in the first place. Four time drop out does not a CEO make.” Oliver remarks dryly, and once again he’s quoting Felicity when she told him he needed to show he cared about the company more than anything, his lack of credentials could hurt his chances of gaining back the board’s trust. 

“And do you think appointing your  _ wife _ as the head of the newly refurbished department - that we single handedly destroyed FYI - the best way to win them over?” Felicity asks incredulously.

“They don’t know we blew up the place.” 

“Oliver, so  _ not _ my point.” Felicity says in exasperation. “You should at least look at candidates or…”

“Felicity, you are qualified for this job.” Oliver insists and they both know he’s right, “Even if we weren’t married I’d  _ still _ recommend you cause I know you can do this. Besides, the board is going to have to learn to accept that you won’t be a silent partner in this.”

“ _ Partner?”  _ Felicity all but squeaks, she wants to protest and say this is  _ not _ what she signed up for, but then being a trophy wife isn’t exactly in her wheelhouse either and  _ Oliver _ knows that and is very much acknowledging that.

He’s accepting all of this change so easily, while Felicity is still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she’s living with the man she loves, but yet not really. 

She can’t exactly protest against all of this cause the job  _ is _ an amazing opportunity for her and exactly what she wants to do outside of Arrow stuff and Oliver knows that. “Okay, slow down. How about I tackle the Applied Science before you give me free reigns on the company, otherwise I’d demand a Starbucks to be built on every floor and pizza fridays.”

Oliver laughs at her comment and this time she knows things are finally heading in the right direction for them. She rests her hand on his own, immediately sobering him, “Thank you. This is always something I pictured myself doing a few years down the line and I just...thank you.”

“I figured it was important to you when you started going over ideas with me.” Oliver says with a small smiles. He turns their hands over so that her much smaller hand is clasped in his and he squeezes it gently, causing goosebumps to break out along Felicity’s arms. A gentle touch should  _ not _ be causing her body to react so strongly. “The board seemed very interested in your ideas and would like to know about it.”

“ _ Tomorrow _ ?” Felicity asks in alarm, their meeting is only about 12 hours from now there is no way she can prepare for that  _ and _ expect to sleep with all of this going on. “Oliver, why did you wait till  _ now _ to tell me this? I have to prepare, make some slides, do some research. I need…”

“To breathe.” Oliver takes a step towards her placing both his hands on her shoulders, his clear blue eyes piercing Felicity’s soul, logically she knows she should look away pull them out of the spell they seem to be under, but her body refuses to take heed. “The board is aware of what happened to you recently, and this meeting is just an introductory and you can set up another meeting with them later on.”

“Provided they even  _ like _ me and don’t think I’m green and not the  _ intern _ .” Felicity bemoans as she buries her face in her hand, her nerves have already been fired because of this meeting just going as Oliver’s  _ wife, _ but now as potential head of an entire department to say she’s freaked would be an understatement.

“They are going to love you.” Oliver says with conviction, squeezing her shoulders in reassurance, “It’s impossible  _ not _ to love you.”

They both freeze at his words, but Oliver does not looks nearly as horrified as she thinks he should and Felicity suddenly feels like the walls are closing in around her. She shakes off Oliver’s hands and almost trips over her feet to get to her abandoned basket. 

“Laundry.” She squeaks out shaking the basket unnecessarily.

She doesn’t wait for Oliver to respond and sprints off, the front door slamming behind her.

 

* * *

 

The next morning they are standing in Oliver’s office and despite the glass walls Felicity has never felt more claustrophobic in her life. She tugs on her shirt for the millionth time, making sure all her buttons are properly intact, and she’s even contemplating changing into a shirt that doesn’t have buttons, just in case she pops out of them and thus flashes the entire board.   

“Stop fussing with it, you look great.” Oliver insists taking her hand and preventing her from tugging on her skirt, she wasn’t even  _ aware _ she began to fuss with that.  

He’s been very handsy since they arrived in the office.

Felicity at first assumed it was because of  the presence of Jean Loring, but she along with Ashlee Wringer, a gangly, grumpy older woman who basically doesn’t believe anything either Oliver or Felicity has said, claiming she’s been dealing with Queen family scandals for her entire career, she doesn’t expect Oliver to be any different.

Felicity has dubbed her the grumpy lady in her head and both women have since left the Oliver’s office, yet Oliver still seems to be going out of his way to touch Felicity. Nothing inappropriate just a tap on the shoulder, a brush of her arm, or most recently squeeze of her fingers and Felicity is acutely aware of their proximity. 

Oliver appears to be his usual calm self and the only way Felicity knows he’s anything but is when he steps away from her and starts rubbing his fingers together. 

“Hey.” She calls out to him softly, this time taking the initiative to grab  _ his _ hand. The silver band of her wedding ring is heavy on her finger and Oliver’s fingernail knocks against it as their hands meet. She is still trying to get use to her new jewelry, a few times this morning she found herself staring back at the simple silver band still unable to comprehend this is what her life is now. “It’s gonna be okay. You got this.”

Oliver bites his lip in uncertainty and Felicity can’t help but watch the way his tongue peeks out to swipe against his pink lips and Felicity knows  _ exactly _ how soft those lips are. Felicity looks away in alarm, not believing those are the those she’s having just moments before they have to go in front a small group of people that will determine the future of their careers and Oliver’s family legacy.

For once the universe is on her side and Oliver is completely unaware of her  _ dirty _ thoughts more focus on the actual problem at hand, unlike Felicity.  She blames it on Oliver’s suit, the crisp white shirt paired with a deep purple tie - that matches perfectly with Felicity’s purple blouse- is a deadly combination and Felicity has always had a weakness for Oliver in his suits. She’s pretty sure one of the many reasons she didn’t protest more to becoming his EA is because of those shirts.

“Hey.” This time it’s Oliver calling out to her pulling her away from her thoughts, “ _ we _ got this.”

Felicity can only give him a nervous smile when one of the assistants call out to them, informing them that the media is ready for them.

Into the rabbit hole they go.

There are about a dozen reporters and cameramen standing in the conference room, a small podium at the front filled to the brim with microphones. Felicity didn’t think that Oliver announcing his marriage would be such a big deal. She’s also curious as to why they chose to have the press conference  _ before _ the board meeting. She was under the assumption Oliver being reinstated as CEO would be more important than a silly wedding. 

She apparently has a  _ lot _ to learn about the public relations aspect of marrying a Queen. She plasters a smile on her face just as Oliver takes her by the hand and leads her to the front of the room. She holds onto his hand like a lifeline as her nerves increase tenfold at the small crowd of reporters and journalist all looking like school of piranhas ready to pounce on their first meal,  _ her _ . 

Oliver squeezes her fingers and offers her a reassuring smile, that she tries to return, but she is unsure if it’s more like a grimace or not. That’s going to make a  _ great _ picture, Felicity thinks as the flashes begin to go off.

Ashlee moves to the podium to address the crowd, giving them a briefing of what is to take place. Felicity zones her out and rises on her tiptoes, Oliver immediately notices she wants to say something to him and he bends his knees and tilts his head towards her, so that he can hear her.

“Is the city that bored, that the highlight of their summer is you getting married?” She quips earning a short laugh from Oliver has his hand that’s resting on her hip curls into her. 

“I’m glad to know you find me boring.” Oliver quips. 

Felicity scrunches up her nose at his words and Oliver only smiles brighter, his eyes filled with amusement, he’s laughing at her,  _ teasing _ her and the whole thing gives her pause. For a brief moment she forgets about all the reporters, journalist and board members around them and she just focuses the smile on Oliver’s face, something she has learned is a rare occurrence for him in the last 2 years she’s known him and probably for those 5 years on the island as well.

“Mr. Queen! Mr. Queen! Is it true your new wife is pregnant and that’s the reason for the rush wedding as well as your hopes to ensure Queen Consolidated remains within the Queen family? Is it true she grew up in a trailer park in Las Vegas?”

These are the first series of questions Oliver is bombarded the moment he steps in front of the microphone and all from one single reporter. Ashlee did go through this with them, warned them how brutal the journalist can be, but Felicity can see the tick in Oliver’s cheek and she takes a step towards him placing a calming hand on his back and immediately she feels the tension diffuse from his body.

“Felicity is not pregnant. Where she grew up is also no one’s concern” Oliver informs the crowd with a hint of finality that leaves no room for anymore questions like that especially after his own follow up question. “Now, does anyone have some  _ real _ questions for me?”

There are some soft murmurs across the crowd, the reporter in question doesn’t even seem chastised by Oliver’s dismissal of her. In fact, she looks smug and Felicity is immediately put on high alert, even more so when the report takes a step back allowing the others to go forward with questions.

The woman in question does not ask a single question after that, but she has her notebook out and taking notes a rapid pace that does not sit well with Felicity at all.

The rest of the press conference goes without incident, but Felicity can’t help but train her eyes back on that specific report every time a new question is asked. 

Felicity makes a mental note to find out exactly who this tall, slim brunette is, the moment she is back at the lair.

 

* * *

 

“Mr Queen, I have to say when the board heard of the latest news of your nuptials, we were naturally skeptical.” Mr Walcott, one of the senior members, looks from Felicity to Oliver with a critical eye, and Felicity has to fight everything in her  _ not _ to fidget or look guilty. “Even more so when I realized your new  _ wife _ , and the Felicity Smoak you recommended to pioneer the Applied Science division, was one in the same. But after hearing Ms. Smoak...uh  _ Mrs. _ Queen speak, it’s clear you knew what you were doing and I’m not talking about marrying her.”

A few of the board members laugh, and Felicity smiles politely in return, unsure of the man’s intent with his backhanded compliment. His lips curve upwards in what Felicity assumes is a smile but she’s not sure.

“Felicity’s brilliance is one of the things I love about her.” Oliver says smoothly

Felicity breath catches in her throat at his words, he’s been doing that a lot lately, saying all the ways he loves her without directly  _ telling _ her. Not that she needs to hear those words again, Felicity has never doubted Oliver’s love - okay, so the first time in the mansion gave her pause, and pretty much caused her heart to drop to her feet - but it’s Oliver’s  _ commitment _ to this, to  _ them _ is what worries her the most.

“I can see why.” Mrs. Douglas, a short stout woman with a warm smile, practically swoons. The older lady is a complete romantic and total softy, from the moment Oliver made the official announcement and gave a brief summary of their ‘wedding’ the little old lady has been smitten. 

With Oliver, or their fabricated story, Felicity is still deciding, that said Mrs. Douglas has been the most welcoming to Felicity and still asking all the relevant questions addressing both Oliver  _ and _ Felicity. Something no one else on the board did, until they realizes that Felicity actually knew what she was talking about.

“Mrs. Queen!” Felicity startles at the foreign name and looks across at Mr. Cranky -she  _ thinks _ his name was Dennis but she prefers the name she chose instead -. “Sorry, still getting use to that. I keep expecting Moir...uh the late Mrs. Queen to appear… not that she  _ would _ . Not that I don’t believe in ghost but….”

Oliver’s hand lands on her hip, stopping her mid ramble before she got to logistics of calling the Ghostbusters or worse if any knew Casper whereabouts.

“Felicity, is still deciding if she is taking the Queen family name or not.” Oliver supplies. Felicity doesn’t have to look at his face to know that he is giving them a look of challenge almost daring them to question him. 

The entire board was ready to protest, but immediately stood down. Oliver may still doubt himself as a leader, but he was able to command this room with a simple look. The entire time he spoke about his plans for the company, he spoke about it with the passion Felicity has only ever seen when he’s out on the streets fighting for his city. Halfway through his presentation she took a step back and just marvelled at how far he has come, she can tell this is something he truly wants, and isn’t just doing it because he has to. 

She had gotten so lost in his words, that she forgot that she was suppose to speak, and one of the board members had to call out to her a few times. Mrs. Douglas had been watching her through the entire thing and only winked at Felicity when she apologizes before she took over. 

It’s the first time both she and Oliver worked on something that wasn’t Arrow related, and Felicity is slightly surprised at how well they fed off of each other, and she knows the board was impressed, they even got an approved tilt of the head from Mr. Cranky, which is a feat in itself.

“Well, I think I can speak for the board when I say your attitude towards this company has been an amazing turn around.” Mr. Walcott speaks, “You have clearly shown that you did your homework Mr. Queen, you studied up on this company’s histories and know where both our strength and weaknesses lie. That is the first step to running a successful business. You and your wife...Mrs. Queen... are clearly a well oiled machine and I, personally, have high hopes for you running this company.”

Felicity eyes widen, the excitement building within her, Oliver clears his throat and takes a step forward, smiling graciously at the older man as they shake hands, “Thank you, Mr. Walcott. My father always spoke very highly of you and I know how much time and money you have invested into this company and I hope to not let my past mistakes affect my vision for this company now.

“And I am certain you will achieve that, my boy.” Mr. Walcott says jovially, he surprises Felicity with a wide smile and holds out his hand to her, “You, my dear, will be a great addition to this team and I look forward to what this company becomes under both your reigns.”

“Oh.” Felicity says in surprise, “Thank you, Mr. Walcott. We won’t let you down.”’

“I know.” Mr. Walcott says with a smile, his first of the meeting, “You have my vote, Oliver.”

Felicity perks up as his words, looking at Oliver with wide eyes, they both know that Mr. Walcott is one of the board’s oldest members and thus has the highest stakeholders in the company.

“Thank you, Mr. Walcott, but I’m not too sure what that means…” Oliver looks around at the rest of the board expectantly, hopefully.

“Simon, we can’t possibly decide this on the spot.  There are protocols to follow.” Mr. Cranky unsurprisingly protest.

“Dennis, the boy clearly knows what he’s doing and the things he doesn’t, he finds the best resources like any good businessman would.” Mr. Walcott says dismissively. He turns to the rest of the board, “why don’t we call a voting to reinstate Mr. Queen as CEO with the mandatory 6 month probation in which we will reconvene and see the status of the company most importantly the Applied Science division with Mrs. Queen running it.” 

Felicity stands next to Oliver, both of them sharing stun expression, neither of them expected things to escalate this quickly. They were both under the impression Oliver would hear back about  _ his _ reinstatement by the end of the week not the end of the  _ meeting. _

“All in favour?” Mrs. Douglas speaks up, with her hand already in the air.

Felicity watches in amazement as almost 80% of the board is in favour  of Oliver taking over and the moment Mr. Walcott congratulates Oliver, Felicity squeals in delight jumping into his arms. It’s not until she presses her lips against his in her excitement does she catches herself, and more importantly what she is doing. 

She pulls back in alarm, wanting to step out of Oliver’s arms, but he has a firm grip on her waist, she looks at him sheepishly, “Sorry, I shouldn’t... ”

Oliver looks at her in slight warning and she then remembers the silver ring on her finger, she turns to the board who is watching their exchange some with disapproval, others with amusement, “Sorry, we don’t that on the job, ‘cause that would be inappropriate and wrong and…”

“What, Felicity is trying to say is that we are very grateful for this opportunity and we... _ I  _ won’t let you regret your decision.” Oliver says sincerely. A few of the board members look skeptical but Felicity is certain that they have sticks up their asses anyway. 

She instead focuses on the smile on Oliver’s face as one by one the majority of the board members come up to them, not only to congratulate them on their marriage, but to  _ praise _ Oliver for all the hard work he’s put into his presentation and how much they look forward to seeing him finally take over or his father, the way his father had always hoped.

_ This, _ is why Felicity agreed to this ruse in the first place, yes it put her personal life on a tailspin, but she knew Oliver is capable of running this company. If her ‘wholesome’ image as Ashlee and Ms. Loring likes to refer her as, gives Oliver the trust he so desperately needs from the board, then so be it.

“Felicity, I wanted to thank you.” Felicity startles when Mrs. Douglas walks up to clasping Felicity’s elbow and pulling her aside and a few feet away from Oliver.

“Thank me?” Felicity asks slightly confused.

“Yes. Thank you,” Mrs. Douglas insists. “I was good friends with Moira, 50 years to be exact and Moira, bless her soul, has been through so much in the last 10 years before her death. I never seen her happier when she finally got back Oliver, and all she ever wanted for her children was for them to be happy and I can see that one of her hopes was finally able to happen. I watched Oliver grow up and I proud of the man he has become and I’m certain part of that is thanks to you. I only wish Moira was here to see it.”

“Oh.” Felicity is at a lost of words, this woman just practically gave her, Moira’s seal of approval from beyond the grave and all for the mockery that is Oliver and Felicity’s fake marriage. 

They are lying to this sweet little woman and so many other people, but Felicity has never felt like such a fraud until this little old lady engulfs her in a hug and thanks for making Moira Queen’s son happy.

 

* * *

 

“I was waiting for the moment you finally snuck back here.” Diggle calls out to her, his voice holding that knowing tilt to it and Felicity knows she’s in for some kind of lecture. There is a reason she’s been avoiding the lair for the past few days. She’s been avoiding  _ Diggle _ , and his knowing looks of disapproval. 

“Oliver had some more meetings with the CFO and other a few other departments within QC.” Felicity informs him, pointedly  _ not _ looking away from her computers.

“I didn’t ask you where Oliver was.” Diggle counters.

Felicity can feel his eyes boring into her and she just knows he’s standing at Oliver’s station, leading against it, his ginormous arms crossed across his chest and watching her with his judgy knowing eyes. With a slight huff Felicity holds onto her desk and spins around to face him, “I know what you’re gonna say, and it doesn’t matter. We already signed the papers and everything.”

“I know.” Diggle answers simply, “I just wanted to know how  _ you _ are?”

Felicity narrows her eyes and looks at him closely, “He told you about the ring didn’t he?”

“And unsurprisingly Oliver went  _ against _ my advice and proposed.” Diggle shakes his head.

“Glad to see you approve.” Felicity remarks sarcastically, part of her had always hoped that their friend was rooting for her and Oliver, after all he never seemed against it in the past.

“Felicity, you can’t honestly tell me that either of you are  _ ready _ for a marriage.”  

“Well, whether or not, we are already there.” Felicity grunts, she had hoped that Diggle would be able to convince her that going forward with this would be a good idea, not be all disapproving and  _ logical _ about this.

“We both know that boy is stupid in love with you.” Diggle remarks dryly, off Felicity’s shy smile he only shakes his head, “I take it back you are both stupid in love with each other, but an I love you and one kiss under duress does not a marriage make, trust me.”

“Not one, more like 4 or maye 5? I lost count in the bathroom…”

“Felicity! I don’t want to hear about that!” Diggle protests, “my point is why don’t the two of you just try  _ dating.  _ I am assuming that is what you want right?”

“Do you think he can do it? The two years we’ve known him Oliver has always put saving the city is top priority, which is one of the things I love about him, but what if he wakes up one day and realizes saving the city is his  _ only  _ priority. He’s told me as such countless times, his history with women since we’ve met him reiterating that.”

“Yes, but he’s never been in love with you before either.” Diggle counters, when Felicity bites her lip in uncertainty, he quickly continues, “Don’t you think Oliver deserves the chance to prove to you that he means it?”

He’s right and they both know it, Felicity just doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to giving guys her heart and Oliver Queen is the biggest gamble of them all.

“Felicity! I found your husband wondering around the parking lot like a lost puppy.” Roy’s loud voice booms out in the liar filled of humour.

“Roy, I wasn’t lost. I was checking the area out and making sure no one was following me.” Comes Oliver’s disgruntled response as the two men make their way noisily down the staircase.

“Roy’s not going to let this one go is he?” Felicity asks unnecessarily. 

“I’m pretty sure he made a list of jokes to make.”    

“Oliver is going to put an arrow in him again.”

“Yea, Roy does not care.” 

Diggle only shakes his head in amusement as the two men make their way over to them Oliver throwing both Diggle and Felicity a curious look, but neither divulge in their conversation. Roy makes a beeline for one of the computer screens and smirks, “I thought you two weren’t doing the photoshoot for your engagement slash wedding till Oliver got back the company? Those look pretty good.”

Roy clearly knows more about the happenings of QC, more than she realizes, obviously due to Thea, “Wait what photoshoot?”

“I hadn’t gotten around to tell her about that yet, Roy.” Oliver says tensely, he looks across at Felicity apologetically, but Diggle interrupts them.

“He’s talking about that picture.” 

Both Oliver and Felicity’s head whip around to look at the picture in question, it’s one from the press conference earlier that morning. Felicity’s nose is slightly crinkled as she looks up at Oliver with narrow playful eyes and Oliver is looking down with the widest smile she’s ever seen and that’s saying something, given the fact that she’s standing right next to him  _ in _ the picture. She has one hand resting on his chest, the photograph caught it in just the right time when her had playfully slapped Oliver. Oliver has a hand loosely hung on her him, his entire body turning to face her instead of the crowd. This picture had been taken place just seconds before Oliver addressed the small crowd of reporters and journalists, Felicity didn’t realize how intimate that small moment between them was until she is looking at the photo. To anyone else the picture looks like a quiet moment between to lovers, no one would suspect it’s in front a small crowd of people or that Oliver and Felicity are  _ not _ lovers in the slightest. 

“That was for the press conference this morning,” Oliver supplies, he’s standing behind her and out of her line of sight, but Felicity can feel his eyes boring into her.  

Her lack of response seems to given all the men pause, and they follow her lead and no one comments on the picture, although I’m sure Roy is itching to say more, but he thankfully follows the lead and heads over to his suit. When Oliver by passes Felicity to get his suit, he squeezes her shoulder despite her lack of response to the picture. Clearly, her lack of acknowledgement of the picture has not deterred Oliver in the slightest, the small touch is one of many of the course of the day and something he has never done before and once again this new handsy thing is unnerving her to say the least.

When Oliver told her he was going to  _ show _ her that he meant what he said, she was expecting big grand gestures but for now everything has been subtle and sweet. Not only has he included her in every aspect of today’s meetings but he also did small things like packed her favourite flip-flops knowing that the long day they had she’d want to get rid of her heels as soon as possible. He also personally went to get them lunch from her favourite Italian place, something he didn’t  _ need _ to do because the small group of executives they were meeting with had ordered lunch for everyone. 

Suffice to say Oliver had a lot of the women, and some of the men, swooning when he walked into their meeting 15 minutes late with a plastic container filled with creamy bacon carbonara spaghetti, Felicity’s absolute favourite.

She’s grateful for her time in the lair by herself, Oliver has been overwhelming her to say the least in the past 24 hours and she just needs a few moments to herself to  _ think _ and figure out what she wants.

Truthfully, she knows what she wants, or more importantly  _ who _ she wants just just hasn’t figured out how to convince her heart it’s the right thing to do.


	11. Chapter 10

Oliver punches the pillow on the couch a few times hoping by some miracle the damn thing would prevent him from feeling the hard wood of the armrest below, but no avail. He shifts onto his side, pressing his back against the couch, but hisses when his knee knocks against the coffee table a few inches away. He growls in pain and shoves the table away wincing as it drags  _ loudly _ against the wooden floor. 

He's been sleeping on the couch for a little over a week now and the small confined space is taking a toll on his bad knee, it doesn't help that he's fallen off the couch a few times and landing on said knee or has accidentally kneed the back of the couch as well. The couch was somewhat comfortable the first few days a step up from his usual cot in the lair, that is until Felicity bought him the futon but his inability to stretch out his leg is greatly affecting his still healing knee. He’s been contemplating bringing the futon to the apartment, but knows that a newly married man bringing a couch at home would  _ not _ bode well.

Three years on an island as well as living in the most undesirably places and yet an old couch is where he meets his demise. 

Alright, that's overdramatic even for him and he suspects all this extra time spending with Felicity is rubbing off on him.

“ _ Oliver!”  _

Felicity’s startled cry has Oliver up and out of the couch in the blink of an eye, he ignores the twinge in his knee. He is about to fly up the staircase when he looks up to see a sleep ruffled Felicity peering down at him through squinted eyes, completely unharmed.

“Oliver, would you stop being so stubborn and just get into bed with me, already?” Felicity releases a strangled groan in frustration and hits her head against the banister at her word. “I’m tired and you’re making noise and would you just get up here so I can  _ sleep _ ?”

There is a slight whine in her tone, and she’s already making her way back to the bed before Oliver can respond, he’s smart enough to know  _ not _ to try and argue with her and he slowly makes his way up the narrow stairs, wincing with each step. 

So maybe he should have swallowed his pride days ago rather than put his still healing knee through so much.

When he reaches the landing of the loft he pauses, mainly to stretch and bend his leg a few times in hopes to ease the pain in his knee, but also just to take in the small room. He passes in and out this room to shower, but despite the suitcase that he’s been living out of tucked away in the living room, a good bit of his clothes is thrown carelessly around the room and it’s mixed with all of Felicity’s own belongings. 

They have been living together a little bit under a fortnight and he sometimes still marvels at the sight of their shoes at the front door, or their towels hanging side by side behind the bathroom door. The bathroom counter is littered with Felicity’s beauty products and toiletries, but her bright pink toothbrush lying in the small cup next to his blue one still gives him pause.

He turns to the bed and grins at Felicity who is lying on her back, her mouth open as she sleeps. He remembers that one night they shared a bed, he remembers all too well what happened and while he’s not opposed to a repeat performance, particularly with both of them remaining in bed, he does not want  to mess this up. This new understanding they seem to have come to ever since the press conference is working for them and he does not want to rock the boat, so to speak.

The dull pain in his knee reminds him that he can’t just stand there and stare at Felicity all night so he slowly makes his way to the bed, gingerly sitting on it not to shuffle Felicity awake. He has to hold back a soft moan of approval when his head hits the pillow and he stretches out along the bed.

He turns to his side and watches the way the moonlight hits Felicity’s hair at just the right angle so it almost looks as though she’s glowing. He thinks back on the day’s events and a smile blossoms on his face at the memory of Felicity’s smile. He made a promise to Felicity that he would not stop showing her how much he loved her and he thinks he kept true to that promise. Felicity’s pleased expression only confirming it for him.

He’s very familiar with the likes of grovelling, before the island he was the guy that grovelled like a pro to get in any girl’s good graces. He’d use his money to his advantage and do extravagant things to impress her and get her to forgive him, be it renting out an entire restaurant just because he can (although knowing the girl’s favourite food was Indian and  _ not _ Thai might have helped him) or hiring a plane to write an apology in the sky. With Felicity it’s different though, not only would she not be impressed with that spectacle Oliver knows the deserves more thought and care into the things he does and he’s not grovelling, he’s showing her that he does love and he does want to make this work.

“I can’t sleep with you thinking so loud.” Felicity’s sleepy response startles him, he thought for sure she was asleep. 

Before he can turn his body away so it doesn’t look like he is creepily staring at her, Felicity’s eyes pop open and she squints at him with uncertainty. “That stupid jaw of yours is so define I can tell it’s you even with my blurry vision. What the hell, Oliver?”

“Were you expecting someone else in your bed?” He knows Felicity long enough to know that comment was rhetorical but he can’t help but laugh anyway. 

He also knows that there is no one else in Felicity’s life at the moment for him to even worry about. After their first kiss and before she was kidnapped Felicity made an offhanded comment about Barry having a girlfriend, Iris, when she returned from her visit to Central City. Oliver may have overreacted when she informed the team she was going to Central City for a few days to visit Barry. He knew very well that he should have just spoken to her, but he just wasn’t ready back then.

“Nope, you’ve been in my dream bed  _ long _ before you were in my real bed…” Felicity groans in embarrassment burying her face in her pillow, “I shouldn’t be allowed to speak unless cofee is running through my system.”

Oliver grins at her comment reaching out to tuck her blonde hair behind her ear, he freezes at the gesture, but relaxes when Felicity hums and nuzzles his hand, her eyes fluttering closed. He knows she’s half asleep but he can’t stop himself from speaking, “You are too.”

Felicity’s eyes snap open at his words, and she squints at him suspiciously, “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“No, I am not.” Oliver says with a laugh inching a little closer to her so that their are now sharing a pillow. He thinks of that ill fated night in Russia with Isabel Rochev when he uttered Felicity’s name and the numerous times he almost did while dating Sara, but he feels like that’s a conversation to have much later down the line. “The only happy dreams I have, are with you.”

“Oh.”

It’s far too late to get into such deep conversation, but he sees Felicity’s curious expression and takes that as an invitation to continue. “When I was away, I never really slept, I was always on high alert, so it was restless sleep and if I did dream they were...they were mostly nightmares.”

He tilts his head so that he can look Felicity in the eye, sighing in relief when her fingers find his under the blankets. “Did it stop once you got back home?”

“Not at first.” Oliver confesses, after his first night home and almost strangling his mother, sleep evaded him for weeks, it’s how he was able to build the liar in the first place, he was avoiding home and sleep as well, “But it’s gotten better since then, more dreamless sleep than anything else, which is something I welcome.”

“You know, you could tell me about them...if you want.” Felicity offers shyly, he can hear the hopefulness in her tone and he wants nothing more than to open up to her about those five years, about the dreams that plague his sleep but he just doesn’t  know how. “Your dreams, I mean. Or about your time on the island. I’m always here if you want to talk.”

He licks his lips in thought and he can see her smiling at him encouragingly, the last bit of sleep all but gone from her eyes. “I wasn’t always on the island.”

Felicity hums, he can feel her foot hook around his calf, but she doesn’t move closer to him, she doesn’t run her foot along his leg in some enticing way, she just hooks it around him, getting more comfortable. “I figured as much, if there were plane flying school on the land of mindfields you would have come home sooner than you did.”

“I didn’t learn it in a school either.” Oliver says with a laugh knowing she’s only teasing him. He sobers up as he continues his story, “I was actually in Hong Kong for a year, before I ended back on the island. It’s how I met Waller.”

He can see the questions swirling in her eyes, he knows Felicity well, knows she has  _ many _ questions and he’s never been more grateful that she just lies there and allows him to tell his story at his own pace and to his own discretion. 

“While I was forced to work with Waller, I did somethings...things I’m not proud of. It made me stop seeing people as people and I stopped trusting them. It’s hard for me to open up to trust again.”

Felicity hums at his words rolling towards him and tentatively rests her head against his chest. Oliver’s heart speeds up at her closer proximity, and he’s almost certain she can hear his heart beating, she only shifts a bit closer to him and he wants nothing more than to ask her what does all of this mean, but bites his tongue. He leaves his arm back against her pillow resisting the urge to bring it to her back and tug engulf her in his arms.

“I think you are much better at trusting people than you think. If you were the same man that was on that island, you would have never let John in on your crusade, you never would have trust some nosy IT girl with your life.”

“You were hardly a  _ nosy _ IT girl, you were... _ are _ a valuable member of our team.”

“Trust me, it took all of my willpower  _ not _ to look into you after you came in with that bullet ridden laptop.” 

Felicity’s tone is sheepish and when she goes uncharacteristically silent Oliver’s interest is definitely peaked, “What?”

“Don’t laugh.” Her warning alone has Oliver smiling widely and he huffs when she taps him on the chest, but never moves away from him, “I made it into a game, each time you came to me with a new ridiculous request I filed it away on a information board...a  _ mental _ one mind you...and I’d use it to try and figure you out, it was like a puzzle for me. I could have easily did some research on you and figured out sooner, but I liked seeing your pretty face. You made my otherwise boring time in IT more interesting.”

Oliver always knew Felicity’s talent was wasted in Queen Consolidated’s IT department and he only hopes that she can finally utilize that amazing brain of hers in the Applied Science department. 

“Glad I was able to offer some entertainment.” He quips, when he doesn’t get a response he looks down and grins when he sees Felicity’s mouth is slightly parted and she’s sleeping soundly.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t like this.” Oliver grumbles tugging on his bowtie and rearranging his suit jacket yet again. 

He wears suits on a weekly basis but yet for some reason, he feels as though the vest is suffocating him. Or maybe it’s just the bright lights shining down on him, or the insanely poofy hair the makeup artist/ hairdresser gave Felicity and her equally  _ matching _ suit. They both look ridiculous and Oliver  _ feels _ ridiculous as well.

“Yes, I know. You’ve said this at least a dozen times already.” Felicity snaps. She spins around to look up at him -did he mention the ridiculously  _ ugly _ brown flats they have her in, so that he’s completely towering over her - and growls poking him in the chest with a well manicured finger, “What’s the matter with you? You’re behaving like a child. This thing was suppose to take 20 minutes but unlike me the photographer doesn’t think your grumpiness is attractive and I’m starting to agree with him. Can you just smile and let the man take our picture?” 

“You don’t look like you, I don’t feel like me. Why are we in suits in the first place? This is suppose to be engagement photos, or wedding photos why are we in matching scratchy brown suits? I don’t like it…”

“Oh my god, am I getting a glimpse of what Oliver Queen pre-island is like when he doesn’t want to do something?” Felicity asks with a laugh. She unfolds her arms and tilts her head to the side, her eyes twinkling with merit, she is laughing at him.  

He’s being serious here, albet slightly dramatic, but serious nonetheless and she’s laughing at him. He wants to snap call the whole thing off but they are in a good place now, and he doesn’t want to take out his frustration on her.

“This isn’t  _ us _ .” He laments and doesn’t even bother to hide his whine this time. It’s bad enough they are making a mockery of this marriage, but they can’t even be  _ them _ when taking pictures? It’s too much for him, he’s tired of being something he’s not.

This morning he woke up next to a warm, but empty bed and the apartment smelt of bagels and coffee. Felicity bought him breakfast, but there was no word of their talk the previous night, no progression of their relationship and it’s driving Oliver crazy not knowing where they stand, if they are moving forward like he hoped or if their friendship is still the only thing salvageable. 

He’s so terrified of bringing it up to Felicity, and it would inadvertently send them 10 steps back, he keeps his thoughts to himself, and thus it’s driving him crazy.

He’s cranky, and the photographers ‘vision’ of what their engagement pictures should be is only making things ten times worse for him.

“Oh alright, fine.” Felicity huffs in exaggeration, gathering her hair up in one and pulling her glasses out of her jacket pocket, right before she tosses said jacket on a nearby ottoman. “Go back and change into your regular clothes. I’ll do the same.”

“The guy said that jeans was too casual.” Oliver protests but already following her off the small staged area.

“Yes, well we’re casual people. The magazine, the  _ city _ will just have to deal with it.” Felicity grumbles.

“Mrs. Queen, I would highly suggest doing a formal picture…” The mousy intern follows them her eyes wide in horror, looking for the photographer who had taken a few moments to change look for a particular background in the back.

“Maggie, either my husband and I do these pictures the way  _ we _ want, or I can give the Star a few selfies I have on my phone, your pick.” Felicity tells the young woman calmly. 

When the intern doesn’t respond Felicity takes that as all the approval she needs, not that Oliver thinks she needs to approval in the first place. He watches as she grabs her extremely large handbag and into the make-up room.

“Mr. Queen…”

“Sorry Maggie.” Oliver says with a shrug moving to his own room where his clothes are hung, it takes him less than no time to get out of the stuffy suit and into his light blue short sleeve shirt and jeans. 

The shirt was sitting on their bed when he woke up, Felicity never said he  _ had  _ to wear it, but the suggestion was loud enough and when he walked down the stairs and her eyes lit up he knew he made the right choice. 

Speaking of eyes lighting up, Oliver is pretty sure he’s making the exact same expression the moment Felicity walks out into the room. She’s wearing a bright flora knee length dress that flares out at the bottom, her shoulder are bare and she just  _ beautiful. _

“What?” Felicity asks with uncertainty, smoothing down her dress, which is for naught as the material just flares back up.

“You look beautiful.” Oliver says with earnest, a smile blossoming on Felicity’s lips as she makes her way towards him.

“And there is the smile I’ve been trying to find for the past hour, Mr. Queen.” Avery their photographer, who has been grumpy the entire hour, and Oliver has to hold back and not  _ glare  _ at the younger man, especially given the fact that he has his camera pointed at them and has been taking  pictures since the moment Felicity walked out. 

“It’s clear I’ve been going about this all wrong. You two, just do your thing.” Avery says with a large gesture, his face already behind his camera.

“Our  _ thing _ ?” Felicity squeaks looking at Oliver in alarm, “what does that even mean?”

Oliver takes a step towards her, hooking his finger under the thin strap of her dress, tugging the ends of her ponytail that is caught there. He marvels at the way she visibly gulps at his close proximity, she spent the night in his arms less than 12 hours ago, yet he can still visibly see how his touch affects her and he would be lying if he said it didn’t make  _ his _ heart skip a beat.

“I think he wants us to just come up with how we normally take pictures.” Oliver stutters when Felicity rises on her toes and untucks his shirt collar, the smell of coconuts over taking his senses.

“He’ll have to go hide in the bushes then and get one of those long lens thingies.” Felicity quips as she takes a step back none the wise at the way Oliver’s heart skips a beat. She grins at him patting his chest, “Now, you look handsome.”

“I didn’t look handsome before?” Oliver teases. He takes a step towards her raising his hand to hook his finger around her bouncing ponytail, tugging on it lightly at which Felicity actually  _ giggles  _ in return.

“Ollie would you just kiss her and get it over with.” 

Oliver startles at his sister’s voice, turning to the left, but never stepping away from Felicity, “Speedy what are you doing here?”

“Are you kidding? I know how much you hated these things when we were younger, I had to come see it for myself. That and I had decided to come home a little earlier than planned.” Thea quips as she ruffles her short brown hair, smirk evident, “I didn’t think you’d want to mount your wife in front of the camera. Leave that for when you’re home.”

“Speedy.” Oliver groans in exasperation, his cheeks pinking up, Felicity tries to step away, but he hooks his arm around her hips keeping her in place. She looks up at slightly startled at his movement, her lips are pink and inviting and before he knows it he’s locking eyes with her, his head tilted towards her lips in question. Felicity gives a small gasp in surprise but she raises herself on her tiptoes a clear invitation, but it’s Thea’s soft squeal that pulls them out of the moment yet again.

“These are so cute.” Thea says leaning over the tech guy to watch the pictures, “you guys got some great shots, but you gotta stop looking at your girl Ollie and actually look at the camera. You two are suppose to be on the front of the magazine and they can’t use side shots. No matter how sickeningly cute they are.” 

Oliver sighs as Felicity pulls out of his arms and walks over to his sister, her eyebrows rising at the pictures which has Oliver’s interest peaked as well. He’s pretty sure the first set of pictures weren’t even  _ usable _ .

“We tried that, but your brother seems to only want to smile at his  _ wife _ and not the camera.” The photograph quips.

Both Oliver and Felicity blush as Thea laughs at their expense her nose wrinkling when she sees the  _ other _ pictures, “Ollie you look constipated and what’s with the penguin suit? C’mon, I’ll get you those pics.”

Before either Oliver or Felicity could protest, Thea is ushering them back to the small set up already manhandling Oliver to stand in the very back ignoring his protest. 

“Oh, Ollie relax and just wrap your arms around your wife.” Thea admonishes taking Oliver’s arms and putting it around Felicity’s waist, “what’s the matter with the two of you, just relax. She’s your wife Ollie, not a sack of potatoes,  _ hold _ her.”

Oliver growls about to flip her off but Felicity grabs his hand placing on her rib cage, he can feel her muscles contract at the contact, but then relax as she sinks into his embrace. 

“See, now smile.” Thea orders.

“And that’s the look I’ve been getting all afternoon.” The photograph quips no doubt the scowl Oliver sends his sister way.

Felicity releases a little huff, and although he can’t see her, he’s pretty sure she’s rolling her eyes at him. She twists in his arms, rises on his toes and places a chaste kiss on his cheek, and Oliver’s entire body freezes not expecting it, his grip tightening on her hips.

“Aw it’s so cute that she still makes you blush, Ollie.” Thea teases.

Oliver is about to pull away, but Felicity keeps a firm hold on his cheek, her lips are soft, her hot breath tickles his neck, “Relax. Smile. Just ignore everyone.”

Her words seem to have the magic touch and it grounds him. He takes her hand from his face and places  kiss on her knuckles smiling at the way her cheeks pink up in surprise. If they are going to do this thing, he might as well have some fun with it. 

The smile that blossoms on Felicity’s face when he crouches a bit and places a kiss on  _ her _ cheek tells him that they are for once on the same wavelength.

 

* * *

 

Later that night she’s curled up in bed in a ratty old MIT sweater, her tablet on her lap. She’s biting her lip in deep thought over whatever is on the screen. Her lips are pale and unpainted, the first time he saw her with no make-up and ready for bed, she looked fire years younger. While he loves her bright coloured dresses with equally matching bright coloured lipstick, there is something so intimate about seeing her without make up, he wants this, this image of her relaxing in  _ their _ bed to be apart of his life, always.

“Hey!” Felicity greets brightly patting his side of the bed invitingly, “Avery sent me the photos, he wants us to choose three, including the one that has to go on the cover.”

“You can choose whichever you think is best.” Oliver offers, but when she throws him a hard look, he quickly backtracks as he crawls into bed. “But I could look too.”

“See, we’re getting this married thing down.” Felicity teases as she offers the tablet to him.

“Is that what we’re doing?” Oliver can’t help but ask, he sees the way she freezes up, but he pushes on through, “Getting this married  _ thing _ down? Are we doing it to get better at fooling other people, or fooling ourselves?”

“Oliver...”

“Look, I get it. I know that I hurt you. Every time we took two steps forward,  _ I _ took five steps back.” Oliver takes a deep breath, taking her silence. “But I’m not going to do that anymore. The only direction I’m going forward and I hope that you would be going forward with me.”

“Oliver, I’m sorry.” Oliver shatters at her words, he goes to slide off the bed, but Felicity grabs his hand, “I’m not saying no, I’m just saying I don’t know...I’m sorry.”

Oliver shakes his hand free of hers, ignoring her protests. He glances at the screen. There is a picture of their smiling faces his arms wrapped around her waist, her hands resting on his forearms. The picture is mocking him, he gestures at it just as he slips out of the bed. 

“I like that one, no one would know it wasn’t real.”

 


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, Susan was always the reporter in my mind, the moment Carly Pope was announced, it just worked out that she's shady AF lol. 
> 
> Sorry for the delay, life got in the way, this fic does however have about 4 more chapters left, including an epilogue. It's safe to say that when I started writing this fic over a year ago, I NEVER had plans on it getting to almost 50k words that said there are some things I hope to deal with and you guys are still along for ride. Thank you all for the kind words about this fic.

Felicity sits in the noisy crowded coffee shop, the rain pouring outside, only adding to the constant chatter within the small room. She’s been reading through resumes on her tablet for the past 3 hours, her eyes are beginning to cross and her second cup of coffee is all but dregs now. She's tired but she's also a coward and currently hiding from Oliver. 

This week has been busy for them as they slowly begin to put QC back together again. They rarely see each other in the office, and Starling City criminals seem to have taken a break, she’s convinced the summer heat has everyone running for inside. The only problem is with the lack of criminals, it means Oliver and Felicity are stuck at home, in their ridiculously tiny apartment.

Oliver hasn’t pushed the issue since their photoshoot, but every time he looks at her with those sad puppy eyes, she feels like the worst person in the world. 

So, she’s avoiding him, hiding from the puppy eyes, in a overly crowded coffee house. 

“Usually when someone gets married they can't get enough of their spouse, they don't spend over three hours avoiding said spouse.”  

Felicity startles at the new voice, scowling when the nosy reporter takes a seat in the empty chair at her table. Well manicured hands clinking on the wood as she looks at Felicity expectantly.

Felicity’s fingers never once stop as they fly over her tablet. “Why don't you ask what you really want to know Ms Williams so that I can get back to my job?”

“Look at who did some homework.” 

Susan Williams looks mildly impressed and all it does is piss Felicity off more than she already is. Thanks to QC’s PR team everyone knows exactly who Felicity is, but what is more worrisome is that they know what she’s capable of, or at least they are aware of the fact that the Internet is Felicity’s playground. Felicity only hopes people's imaginations aren't as wild as her own and this woman is only pretending to know more than she does.

“Look, I knew you came over here to get a rise out of me, for me to blow up, so you can publish some gossip blurb about Oliver Queen’s new wife has a temper or something equally unimaginative.”

“I am not some entertainment journalist.” Susan all but growls and Felicity has to hide her smirk because she knows very well that Susan is the head reporter for Channel 52 one of the main news stations in Starling City.

“Yet you are sitting here trying to get some kind of dirt on Oliver Queen’s new wife.” Felicity remarks dryly, “has the Arrow and his friends lowered crime to such a point that you are forced to stalk little old me? Surely there has to be something more interesting that stalking me in my favourite coffee shop?”

“Coffee shops, that's where people like you, like to frequent right?”

Felicity eyes narrow suspiciously at the woman’s almost smug tone. She reminds Felicity of her dog Lucky who use to use Felicity’s favourite flats as a chew toy and then sit on it and smile secretively at Felicity as though he's hiding a big secret from her. “People like me? You mean coffee addicts? Sure why not? Places like these do seem to sell  _ coffee _ after all.”

Susan only laughs in return but she's not smiling nor is she amused by Felicity’s snark. “No, what is it you use to call yourself….hacktivist?”

Felicity falters at the woman’s words but immediately neutralizes her expression not wanting Susan to know that she got to her, “I don't know what you’re talking about.”

“Cooper Sheldon, does he ring a bell?” Susan taunts a smirk gracing her features, “Imagine, Queen Consolidated CEO’s new wife, the recently appointed director of Applied Science depart, and all this time she's associated with a known felon. That would look  _ terrible _ on not only the company but the current CEO who turns out as is on probation for the next six months pending his competency or lack thereof to run a multi billion dollar company.”

Felicity’s blood runs cold at the familiar name, one she hasn't heard in over five years, “I don’t know what you  _ think _ you know, but I can guarantee that your information is wrong. Cooper did a stupid thing and paid a price for it. Whatever he did had nothing to do with me and certainly has nothing to do with my husband or Queen Consolidated and I  _ strongly _ suggest you rethink whatever fictitious piece you have planned. Somehow, I don’t think you’d do well working for commission on  _ Teen Star. _ ”

Felicity gets to her feet, her tablet already neatly tucked under her arm and her handbag swinging from her fingertips, she has said all that she needs to.

“Is that a threat Ms. Smoak?”

“I’ll leave that for you to decide, Ms. Williams.” Felicity looks over her shoulder and gives Susan  a smile that is anything but pleasant. Her meaning quite clear.

The moment Felicity is out of sight of the coffee shop she growls in annoyance. She should have looked deeper into this woman’s history. More specifically she should have looked into what Susan Williams was researching and not just who she was. 

She makes a mental note to hack into the woman’s laptop and figure out exactly what she has planned and why on earth she is hellbent on digging up things from almost 5 years ago.

She's still fuming by the time she gets home, tossing her  bags onto the floor by the door and sinking into couch with a loud sigh. It doesn't even register to her that she’s been referring to this tiny little apartment as home.

“Long day?” A tentative voice calls out and it's a testament to how use to having his presence around for the last month or so, that Felicity doesn't even flinch. 

“I hate people.” Felicity bemoans with a petulant whine. 

She only opens her eyes when she smells the familiar woodsy smell that she has learned to associate with Oliver and sure enough Oliver is standing over her looking at her in concern. “What's wrong? I thought you said you were going to work on some resumes, did you start contacting  potential employees already?”

She may have been avoiding him as of late, but she certainly wasn't going to lie about her whereabouts or what she was doing. She wants this thing between them, more than anything, but even if she’s not sure how to let herself want it, she knows  _ lying _ to him, is not the way to go.

“No. I'm still sifting through those.” Felicity says with a wrinkle of her nose earning a smile from Oliver, “Susan Williams.”

Oliver freezes at the name, “the reporter you told me you were looking into. Did you get a red flag?”

Felicity sits up allowing Oliver to take a seat next to her, “More like the red flag accosted me in the coffee shop.”

“What did she do?” Oliver all but growls.

“Retract the claws, mister.” Felicity says with a roll her eyes, pointedly ignoring the way her heart flutters at his overprotective almost caveman like response. 

She refuses to be that girl that swoons about things like that. Oh who is she kidding she's so far gone as it is. 

“I may or may not have threatened her with only being to working for commission with the Teen Star if she wrote that article.”

“You told her she would only get work in a teen magazine?” Oliver asks scandalized his previous rigid demeanor all but gone now as he laughs wholeheartedly, “what did she even say? It's not like Board members aren't familiar with my colourful past. They can't officially hold that against me.”

“It wasn't about you.” Felicity offers, now realizing that she's going to have to tell him about  _ her _ colourful past.

Oliver sobers almost immediately at her tone, “what did she find?”

The ‘is any of it true’  part of that question is lying heavy between them. 

Felicity takes a deep breath, she can see Oliver is about to give her an out but if she wants to give this thing a chance between them she can't be keeping secrets, a big part of her that is from him, “when I was in MIT I was part of this group.”

“Like a cult?” Oliver asks automatically at her incredulous look he shrugs sheepishly, “I was clearing away one of your boxes and found that you had an affinity for black a  _ lot _ of black.”

“Oh god.” Felicity bemoan as Oliver laughs his hand resting on her knee should be for comfort but he only laughs at her annoyed look. 

“It was cute.” Oliver offers but then laughs again and Felicity can't even appreciate the rare sound cause she's more embarrassed than anything.

“Let's shelf this trip down our past for another time. Mister streaker.”

Oliver freezes at her words and this time it's Felicity’s turn to smirk, “what do you know?”

“I’m pretty sure the question you should be asking is ‘what did I  _ see _ ?’ ” Felicity teases loving the way he squirms in embarrassment. “If it's online I can find it.”

“I was probably drunk.” Oliver offers sheepishly.

Felicity laughs, “I would hope so.” 

Oliver huffs softly, his fingers finding her own, “I miss talking like this with you.”

“Oliver, we  _ never _ spoke like this.”

Oliver frowns almost offended by her words, “do you think Dig and i sit over big belly burger and just talk about our lives? That I've told him stories about my parents or Thea?”

“Oh.” Felicity squeak out in surprise because he is right, she can recall numerous conversations like that even before they got married.

They sit there in for a brief moment their fingers still entwined until Felicity breaks the silence, “my friends and I we called ourselves hacktivitst. I guess I always had a knack for wanting to do good.” 

“It's who you are.” Oliver says earnestly squeezing her fingers.

“Well, my boyfriend Cooper didn't see it the same way, and one day he used a super virus I created, to get rid of student loans, suffice to say he got caught and went to jail. He took the blame, said he created the virus.”

“Oh, is there anyway Williams can tie it back to you? Contact Cooper?” Oliver asks with concern.

Felicity shakes her chest tightening, “Cooper won't be an issue.”

“Do you think you can trust him to not let that secret out? We don’t know what lengths this woman would go, or what’s on her agenda. He could very well agree to this if it means getting out of jail.” Oliver tone has changed drastically, she can see the way the vein in his neck has become distended.

“Cooper is not going to be an issue because..because a month before his trial he hung himself in his cell.” Felicity says it in a rush, her eyes prickling with tears, it's the first time she's ever said those words out loud.

“Felicity.” Oliver murmurs softly before she finds herself tucked under his arm. Oliver’a callused fingers rub her bare skin in soothing gestures. 

He doesn't say anything, just continues to rub her shoulders and pressing a brief kiss to her forehead. She’s cried so much over this, over Cooper she thought she was all cried out by now. But as she sits in Oliver's arms the tears just can't seem to stop. 

“You know how you always tell me whenever I'm ready to talk about the island, you’ll be here to listen?” Oliver offers quietly, his fingers now carding though Felicity’s hair calming her greatly. His meaning quite clear.

“Thank you.” Felicity murmurs, despite the fact that Oliver is clearly not pushing her she feels like she owes him an explanation, maybe then he’d understand why she's been so hesitant to give them a try. “Cooper was my first love. We met when I was 17 and a sophomore in university. He was the first guy, or person really that got me, got my love for computers and kept up with my fast track thoughts. It was the first time I felt accepted for being so smart. Naturally, I was smitten, we were together till senior year. I always assumed we had the same dreams but one day he took things too far and it cost him.. everything really. He took the blame for something I created and then he was gone just like...just like my father I guess.”

“You know that I'm not going anywhere,right?”  Oliver places the tops of his fingers on her chin tilting her head upwards so that their eyes lock. “Felicity, I can’t promise that we won't have our ups and downs but I can promise you that I'll never leave you...and I don't want you to say that it's because of the rings and all of  _ this.  _ You and I were always something more long before all of this occurred. I won't lie and say this didn’t helped pushed things along…”

“At an  _ accelerated _ pace.” Felicity interrupts but her voice not full of uncertainty. “Don't you look at where we’ve come and wonder what would happen if we never had to deal with the new vertigo drug?”

“No more than if I had taken the laptop Lawton shot up to another IT expert. Cause  _ that _ is the one thing in my life I never will question, anymore where we are right now.” Oliver says with sincerity the love and affection in his tone warms Felicity from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. It's all encompassing.

He's able to quell so many of her concerns with such few beautiful words and she just loves him more all for it.

“I love you.” Felicity blurts out suddenly, stopping Oliver mid word.

“You...I...really?” Oliver’s voice is full of awe and if anyone asked her she's certain his eyes are shining, the pure joy on his face makes her heart swell and she tackles him with a searing kiss.

It takes Oliver all of a second to register that she is kissing him before his hands find her waist pulling her into his lap. 

Oliver kisses her heatedly, his hands roaming all over her body, leaving a scorching heat in their wake. His stubble grazes against her skin and she knows it might leave a mark much like the pink scratches she had on her chest a few weeks ago after their little tryst in the bathroom. 

Suddenly, the cold air against her wet skin and Oliver is pulling away from her shaking his head. Her blood runs cold, he’s doing it again.

Oliver though sees her panic and places both of his hands on her cheeks, his blue eyes are dilated but crystal clear, “I love you.”

“Oh.” Felicity squeaks in surprise, Oliver only laughs shaking his head and loops an arm around her waist before she can even register what he's doing Felicity finds herself on her back  with Oliver’s warm firm body pressed deliciously closer to hers.

Her hands are in his hair tugging and pulling at it as his mouth latches onto neck. She wraps a leg around his hips rocking into him earning.

Oliver pulls back slightly, panting as he looks down at her with warm eyes, which is great and all but Felicity wants to get back to the kissing. She reaches for the back of his head pulling him back down for another kiss which he obliges willingly. But then Oliver is pulling back again and this time when she moans out his name it's not in pleasure but in frustration.

“Oliver.” She is not above whining. They have earned this damn it. They are married damn it.

Oliver, the big jerk only laughs in return, he's still pressed firmly against her so she knows very well she not the only one who wants this. 

“I want to do this right.”

“Oliver, I don't think you know how do  _ this _ wrong.” Felicity points out incredulously. 

“Not the sex Felicity.” Oliver says with a laugh, and this time he's moving off her and pulling her into a sitting position with him. 

This was not how this is suppose to go, she's thought a lot about the moment she told Oliver she loved him and the moments after none of her scenarios involved clothing, and she had  _ many scenarios. _

_ “ _ And I want to hear every one of those scenarios.” Oliver promises with a laugh pressing a brief kiss to her lips, he even lets out a little chuckle when she realizes she wasn't supposed to say that out loud. 

“Don't toy with me, Queen.” She says with a huff now that the fog has cleared on her sex filled mind. She takes one look at Oliver who is still breathing labored his cheeks pink and his lips wet and so may the fog is not completely cleared.

“I want to take you out to dinner.” Oliver explains he takes her hand in his looping their fingers together, his wedding band scratching against her bare knuckle. He sees where her gaze is fixated and continues, “just because we are married doesn't mean I expect us to jump into that we can take things slow as you want.”

Felicity shakes her head, Oliver’s frown making her smile, it's now her turn to reassure him, “what I mean is this is a partnership. It works both ways. I don't want to be the one that drives this relationship. We both get to decide how slow or fast we take this. We’re both driving the car buddy.”

“That doesn't sound too safe.” Oliver jokes making her smile. He takes her hand and presses a kiss against her knuckles, “let me take you to dinner, no let me take you out for the night.”

“ _ Ooh _ I’m intrigued, Mr. Queen.” Felicity teases, she rises on her knees, smirking at the way Oliver’s eyes widen in surprise. 

She throws her leg over his leg and sinks into his lap, Oliver’s hands automatically go to her hips, just as their lips meet the front door slams open and Felicity squeaks in surprise almost sliding right off Oliver’s lap, if his hands weren’t firmly attached to her waist.

“Oh god, please tell you are both clothed.” Thea bemoans, her hand over her face and Felicity has never been more glad that Oliver wanted to stop and ask her out, otherwise she is certain  _ she  _ would have been topless.

“And if we were?” Oliver replied hotly, “this is why you  _ knock _ when you enter people’s homes Speedy.” 

“It's 3 o'clock on a Sunday.” Thea remarks.

Felicity sits back on Oliver’s lap and smirks she's never seen this side of Oliver before, the  _ annoyed _ older brother and it amuses her more than it should given the fact that Thea has found her literally in Oliver’s lap. She leans over Oliver’s shoulder and smiles warmly at her sister-in-law, who is already at the kitchen island, this apartment is  _ really _ tiny. “Hi Thea.”

Thea only laughs in response, “hello Felicity, can you please dismount my brother so I can talk to both of you?”

“Oh.” Felicity squeaks in embarrassment and when she tries to slide off Oliver’s lap, he only tightens his grip around her more, she slaps his hand sending him a glare in response.

“So what brings you by?” Felicity asks Thea quickly moving over to kitchen, with as much dignity as she can muster while Oliver not so discreetly takes his time to make his way over to them to calm down. 

“Not that I’m saying you  _ need  _ one, you are free to visit your brother whenever you want.” Felicity quickly clarifies, she and Thea have had two or three lunches together, the younger woman claiming she needed to get to know her new sister without Oliver hovering. It was a sweet gesture but Felicity won't lie and say she was nervous for most of those lunches. Thea Queen can be as intimidating as Moira Queen once was and that's saying something. 

Oliver places a calming hand on Felicity’s shoulder stopping her mid ramble,Thea seems to have gotten use to Felicity, because the younger woman only smiles in amusement, “what's up Speedy?”

“As QC’s newly appointed events coordinator, I've decided we should throw a charity event for those who suffered from attacks of Slade Wilson and his monster men.” Thea says with a bit of an excited flourish, “naturally the CEO and other heads of department have to be in attendance. You just have to make a little speech, mingle smile, show them they made the right choice to let you be CEO. It’s tomorrow evening.”

Thea says it all in a rush, no doubt giving Oliver all the information, before he can protest, Oliver though, still seems put out, “Speedy, we have plans tomorrow night.”

When Oliver gestures to he and Felicity, Felicity looks at him in surprise, “We do?”

“Yes.” Oliver insists giving her a knowing look, “ _ big plans _ .”

“Since when have you gotten so dramatic, Ollie?” Thea asks with a role of her eyes unaware of the significance of this date in particular, “You two have probably been on a million dates, you can make this charity event a date night.” 

Oliver goes to protests but Felicity places her hand over his, squeezing it gently, “It sounds like the perfect date night.” 

“I kinda wanted our date, to be just the two of us, not half of Starling City’s elite, and half the board of directors.” Oliver complains, it would be more endearing if Oliver wasn’t pouting like a little boy...okay it’s totally endearing. 

“Oh you two are gross.” Thea remarks, with a small shudder, but despite her tone and her actions, she’s smiling in amusement, “Anyway, I’ve got my own date to get to, and I wanna get there before you two give me cavities.”

She’s gone as quickly as she arrived and Felicity feels as though she’s been whiplashed, “So she and Roy, sorted everything out then?”

“Yea, Roy told me she forgave him for lying? She knows he works with the Arrow, but that’s the extent of it. She hasn’t told him where she’s been these past two months though.” Oliver says with a frown, and Felicity knows it’s been bothering him a lot since he found out Thea hasn’t been in Europe like he originally thought. She is however back permanently and they have all taken that as a good thing.

“She’ll tell you when she’s ready. She seems to be embracing being involved in QC’s business and that’s working for her.” Felicity offers. She takes a step closer to Oliver, rubbing his back soothingly, “Have you thought about telling her about being the Arrow?”

Oliver sighs as she takes a seat on one of the bar stools, his arm looping around her waist and tugging her a little closer to him. This new side to Oliver, the affection in which he as for her, beyond just the look in his eyes, is new for her, but the feeling of his hand on her waist, warms her up and she knows she will never get tired of it.

“Do you think I should?” Oliver asks with uncertainty, his fingers are rolling back and forth against the soft material of her shirt, distracting Felicity to say the least. 

“It’s your secret to tell,” Felicity points out, her hand moving to the back of Oliver’s neck, now that she has free reign to touch Oliver as much as she wants, she feels she may never stop, “I think now that the two of you are rebuilding your relationship, it’s something you should trust her with. It would definitely make Roy’s life easier.”

Oliver huffs at her joke, “I’ll think about it, maybe after things cool down with QC, unless you think this Susan Williams might be more of a hindrance than we think?”

“I think we should not take her for granted, and I will definitely be doing some research on her, but I think we should keep an eye on her.” Felicity says, the possibility of getting back into the lair back to her computers getting her excited. 

“You want to follow her at this charity event, don’t you?” Oliver asks with an amused smile, “We both know she’ll find a way into this thing.”

Felicity looks at him sheepishly, “I know we said it would be date night, but we both know she’s up to something, and we gotta figure out the why before we figure out the what. It’ll make date night fun.”

“This will  _ not _ be our first date.” Oliver says stubbornly, “I want our first date night, to be free of other people and that includes team arrow.”

Felicity rolls her eyes, but she can’t help but be touched at how much effort he is putting into this, how important this is for him, for  _ them _ . “Okay, Tuesday then. Date night. You and me, no one else, unless you want more time to plan..”

He cuts her off with a kiss, and pulls back, their foreheads pressed together, “Tuesday, be ready at 7, I’ll pick you up.”

Felicity forehead wrinkles in confusion, “Oliver, we live together.”

“Tuesday, at seven.” Oliver repeats, just before kissing her firmly, no doubt signalling that the talking part is over, not that Felicity has any protest in the slightest.

“What happened to taking things slow?” Felicity teases against his lips, as his hands roam her body.

“Don’t worry, that’s exactly what I’m doing.” 

The promise in his tone sends a shiver down her spine, and Felicity can only moan in approval as Oliver’s lips latch onto her neck. She’s all for taking things slow if this is what moving slowly with Oliver Queen entails.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay on this but, I wanted to finish the story before I started back posting, and yes this fic is coming to an end, I just have to write a small epilogue, but I'll be posting the final chapter on Wednesday and if I do have the epilogue finished I'll post that on Thursday. I apologize for the constant delays on this fic, but I always intended to finish it

He sits on the couch patiently waiting for Felicity, the sounds of grumbling as been coming from their bedroom for the past three hours now and Oliver made himself scarce the moment Felicity got out of the shower and discovered he left his wet towel on her side of the bed.

He's unsure if her recent mood is because of him or when her research on Susan Williams came up blank or something else entirely. One thing he does know is that he got out of the line of fire before he ends up taking a nosedive over the banister like his towel “accidentally” did.

To be fair she didn't _toss_ the towel over, she just placed it -albeit _roughly_ \- over the banister and the wet bundle went tumbling down to the living room. Luckily not on her tablet that was on the coffee table below.

After seeing the fate that met his towel, Oliver disappeared to the living room leaving Felicity  their room to herself. Which leads him to his current predicament, where he can hear Felicity grumbling to herself as she pads around the loft bedroom. When Oliver hears the sound of heels clicking on the hardwood floor of the loft, he takes that as his cue and slips out of the apartment, he then proceeds to knock on the door.

He can hear Felicity in the apartment call for him, the annoyance in her tone increasing as her voice level increases. He’s just about to let himself in rather that end up further on Felicity’s shit list when the door flings open and Felicity has one heel in her hand, her blonde hair tumbling in curls around her face. The dark red strapless dress hugs her waist and then flares at her hips, cutting right below her knees.

She looks gorgeous.

Her face morphs from annoyance in confusion when she sees him on the other side of the door.

Oliver stands up straight and pulls out the a single rose from behind his back and he breathes a soft sigh of relief when her face softens.

“What are you doing?” She asks with a smile taking the flower from him, breathing it it.

“I promised you a proper first date.” Oliver says with a smile holding out his arm for her while Felicity slips on her heel.

“What happened to this gala isn't good first date material?” Felicity teases.

“When in Rome?” Oliver says with a shrug of his shoulders. He smiles and offer up his hand to her, “shall we?”

Felicity giggles lightly, slipping her hand in his “don't I get a kiss?”

Oliver smirks at the slightly whine in her tone, he never thought that after he told her that he wanted to take her out on a proper date and thus do things _right_ between them, that _Felicity_ would be the more impatient one.

Last night after a heated make out session on their couch, Oliver had to put a stop in things otherwise Felicity would have had her way with him on that couch. When he pointed that out, she in turn told him that they had a perfectly acceptable bed in their bedroom. Which didn’t help matters in the slightest.

Oliver has always prided himself in in self control especially the last year or so, but he almost lost all resolve with one look.

He promised her he was going to do things right and, he is going to keep that promise. It helped that by putting his foot down so to speak it only drove Felicity crazy and if he's learned anything in the last 24 hours since Felicity told him she loved him, is that driving Felicity crazy, knowing that her need for him is as strong as his for her, is one of his new favourite things.

“I don't know about you, Ms. Smoak, but _I_ do not kiss on a first date.” Oliver says with a teasing grin.

Felicity only snorts in response and Oliver’s grin widens when she doesn't even blush at the sound, like she had done a few weeks ago, “First off, I find that hard to believe. Secondly, it's _Mrs. Queen.”_

They both exchange wide smiles at her words and Oliver is just about  pull Felicity in for a kiss when an annoyed voice rings out.

“So I'm guessing the fake marriage isn't so fake anymore?” Roy quips leaning against a wall, looking very out of sorts dressed to the nines in a well tailored suit, no doubt Thea’s doing.

“Not that it's any of your concern, but yes,” Felicity snarks back, her arm that's looped around Oliver’s waist not loosening.

“What are you even doing here Roy?” Oliver grumbles.

“Thea thought it would be fun for us to go together.” Roy remarks dryly, “personally I thought you two would be too busy with each other to even realize what day of the week it was, much less remember this snooty gala...and I was right.”

“There you are!” Thea loud voice calls out before Oliver can remark, she grabs a hold of Roy’s hand and looks between him and the couple, “you weren't trying to convince my brother and his wife to ditch this thing with you, were you?”

“He was just telling us that he’s excited get going.” Felicity says brightly, smirking at Roy when Thea looks at him curiously

“I know this thing is a big deal to you, it being your first QC event you coordinated and all.” Roy explains and Oliver is surprised to hear the sincerity in the boy's words, “I want to go with you.”

“Even if it's snooty and uptight and people are eating food you’ve never even heard of and sizes that couldn't feed a baby bird?” Thea teases with a laugh. She rises in her tiptoes and kisses Roy briefly on the lips, “thank you for doing this for me. There is a big belly burger with your name on it after the gala _and_ …”

“Alright!” Oliver yells loudly before Thea could finish her sentence, “we don't need to hear this.”

He takes Felicity by the hand tugging her along the corridor until they get to the car park, Felicity is smirking at him while Thea is laughing loudly behind them.

“You do know she does that just to annoy you, and you play into it.” Felicity says with a laugh.

Oliver frowns, she's right but that doesn't mean Oliver _wants_ to hear about those kind of things about his baby sister. He goes to protest anyway but Felicity pulls them to a halt a few feet away from the car that Diggle is no doubt driving.

“Now, Mr Queen I seem to be remember you promising me the perfect first date.” Felicity teases, her hands moving to loop around his neck as she rises on her tiptoes, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. “I don't want grumpy Oliver on my date with me.”

“I'm not grumpy.” Oliver protests weakly against her lips, his forehead pressed against hers. He can practically smell their peppermint toothpaste on her breath. He's about to kiss her again when a loud voice interrupts them again.

“Get a room, Ollie.” Thea groans.

He's just about to retort that he had just left a perfectly nice _empty_ apartment, but Felicity tugs into the back seat of the car, greeting Diggle loudly before he could speak.

 

* * *

 

“All systems are a go, alright Roger?”

“Roger that.” Both Oliver and Diggle clarify, while Felicity huffs over the comm.

“I was so close.” Felicity laments, she’s standing by the horderves trying to look inconspicuous as she tracks Susan Williams every movement, but instead looks a bit too obvious for Oliver’s taste.

Diggle looks across at Oliver slightly amused at the entire thing. Oliver rolls his eyes, he knows Felicity has been going a little stir crazy as of late, the criminals of Starling City seem to have taken a summer vacation and Felicity is, to put it lightly _bored_. He never really saw Felicity as the adrenalin junkie type but he may have to revisit that notion, if the cheer excitement Felicity gets from just being ‘incognito’ to observe Susan William is anything to go by.

“Felicity, I thought we agreed that seeing as your searches on Susan Williams turned up empty we were going to wait for her to make the first move?”

“No, I never agreed to that, I suggested we still watch her and that's what I'm doing.” Felicity insists.

“Well you’re standing all the way over there by yourself is starting to gain unwanted attention, especially if you plan to follow Susan around.” Oliver points out, “at least come and stand with me.”

Diggle snorts, so maybe Oliver could have tried not to sound _so_ needy, but these things are boring and if this is going to be their first date he would like to actually talk to Felicity face to face and not over the comms

“Yes, do that so I can turn off these things and not have to listen to the two of you flirt.” Comes Roy’s dry tone.

Oliver can see Felicity is still contemplating what to do, the wine in her glass sloshing slightly as she taps her finger lightly against the rim.

“Felicity, would you like to dance?” Oliver asks, smiling at the way she pauses, and he ignores both Diggle and Roy’s reactions.

“I thought you said you don't dance?” Felicity teases, but Oliver can see that she's already making her way towards him.

“There is only one girl I want to dance with.” Oliver says sincerely.

“Okay, that's it. I’m out, if this reporter chick does turn out to be the devil incarnate like Smoaky thinks, you know where to find me.” Roy remarks just before his comm cuts out and Felicity approaches Oliver.

“I'll take that as my cue.” Diggle says his own comes cutting off, “I'll keep my eye on the reporter, just in case Felicity is right.”

“Everyone thinks I’m being paranoid?” Felicity asks softly with a slight frown.

“I think you might be right about the reporter, but I don't think it's a job for team arrow.” Oliver confesses. He holds out a hand for her to take, “We both know we aren't hiding anything. So let's just enjoy ourselves and forget about her.”

He can see Felicity about to protest so instead he tugs her by the hand and pulling her into his arms just as they enter the dance floor. There are a few couples already dancing so they slip in seemingly unnoticed as they began to sway to the soft melodies bursting out of the room.

“This is a good vintage point.” Felicity says thoughtfully, her neck craning slightly to see over Oliver's shoulder.

Oliver only huffs lightly and spins them around so that whatever she's looking at is now out of sight. “You know, if a guy’s wife can't spend two seconds looking at him while they dance, he's gonna get a complex.”

Felicity looks at him apologetically, “I'm being anal about this aren't I?”

“Usually I’m all for how thorough you are, but can tonight just be about us?” Oliver asks softly.

Felicity’s expression immediately softens at his words, her arms moving to loop around his neck and she sways her hips moving closer to him, “I’m sorry. You wanted to treat this as our first date and I’ve been in team arrow mode and usually _you_ are the one with a one track mind.”

“The only thing on my mind tonight is _you_.” Oliver says softly against her ear, smiling at the way her body shivers. He presses a soft kiss to the curve of her neck, his hot breath tickling her skin, “and I hope to show you just how single minded I can be.”

“Oh.” Felicity squeaks in surprise.

Her grip tightening on his arm. They sway to the music, her hips rocking ever so subtly against his, he can feel the heat radiating from her.

His hands slide low on her hips and stops just at the curve of her hip, the billowing hem the only reason Oliver’s hand doesn't venture lower. Felicity’s fingers are locked behind his neck now, fingers trailing lightly at the point where the collar of his shirt lay, playing with the soft tufts of hair there making Oliver shiver.

“It would be totally inappropriate to leave this thing when we just got here wouldn't it?” Felicity whispers against his ear, her hot breath making the hairs at the back of his neck stand on edge.

“Technically, we didn't have to leave.” Oliver can't help but offer, ignoring the fact that he had the entire night planned out and a quickie in some abandon room was never in the plan. He's about to apologize but Felicity head whips up almost colliding with his chin in her haste. Her eyes are dilated, her expression eager as her grip tightens on his collar.

 _This_ is the adrenaline junkie he was talking about but the much more enjoyable aspects of it. He raises an eyebrow in surprise, “really?”

“Lead the way.” Felicity says she then pauses, “or do you think you should sneak out and then I follow you a few minutes later? Should we have some kind of signal?”

Oliver laughs wholeheartedly at her eagerness, he wonders briefly if Felicity wanted to be a spy growing up. He knows her well enough to know  her excitement is only partially due to the prospects of sex. He can't help but pressing a soft kiss to her lips, “I love you.”

With those simple words Felicity melts in his arms, her cheeks pinking up, as her fingers curled into his collar. “Are you going to rock my world Mr. Queen?”

Felicity Smoak-Queen is an enigma that will always surprise him, and Oliver welcomes those surprising with eager arms.

With those words the temperature rises between them and Oliver clasps her hands, and gentle tugs her off the dance floor, trying to not look too eager. Felicity giggling into his shoulder doesn't help matters, but the warmth of her body, and the feel of her curves pressed deliciously against him only makes him want to hurry up.

He pointedly ignore Diggle’s less than impressed expression as they make their way out of the room.

 

* * *

 

“ _Oh God_.” Felicity gasps are loud and echoing in the large empty hallways.

Each time he nips at her skin, he then runs his tongue along her skin eliciting a moan from her, it takes everything in him to _not_ leave a mark. He pulls away a smirk on his lips as he kisses he briefly, “You’re gonna get us caught.”

“ _You_ need to stop teasing me and find us a room.” Felicity hisses back.

Felicity is _feisty_ when she’s horny, Oliver makes a mental note to remember that for later. Feisty or not, she isn’t _wrong_ , they can’t do what either of them have planned, out in the open hallway. Although, with the current location Felicity’s hand is on his leg, Oliver suspects his wife is one move short of not caring _where_ they are.

“Felicity, _honey_ , I can’t think with your hand there.” Oliver hisses, and he doesn’t know how she ends up having the upper hand, so to speak.

She relents and releases her hold on him, but her lips though latch onto his neck, and now _she’s_ the one very close to leaving a mark.  He blinks a few times, trying to focus on the task at hand and _not_ his wife’s torturous mouth, he’s just about to gently push her away so that he can focus, when a lone door along the hallway catches his eye.

“C’mon.” He whispers, pressing a brief kiss to her lips before he’s tugging her down the thankfully, still empty hallway.

Her blonde hair is already in disarray from his hands, the perfect curls all but a memory now, as the wrinkle to one side of her face. Her lips are red and swollen, from both her lipstick and his kisses.

“Where are we going?” She whispers with a giggle.

“No clue.” Oliver admits with a laugh.

When he tries the handle, they both breath and audible sigh of relief when the door opens. When they realize that it’s not only vacant, but is someone’s office so there is _lots_ of space for them, Felicity does a fist bump and _woos_  much to Oliver’s amusement.

“Are you going to do that when we have sex?” Oliver teases her.

Felicity narrow her eyes at him, “Do you seriously want to tease me about that _before_ we have sex?”

It’s suppose to sound threatening, but from her dilated pupils, heaving chest, and swollen lips Oliver knows she is as far gone as he is.

“Is that a _threat_ Mrs. Queen?” Oliver tears stalking towards her until she hits the desk.

“What you’re going to do about it _mister_ Queen.” Felicity retorts, Oliver goes to answer, but Felicity surprises him when she grabs him by the his suspenders and tugs him to her. Her lips pressed against his. “We’re talking too much.”

Not one to argue, Oliver moans against her lips, his hands move to her waist and he hoists her onto the desk. Her legs wrap around his waist, her heel dragging along his pants, “ _Oliver.”_

His hands roam her back, his fingers moving to the zipper of her dress, but Felicity pulls back and shakes her head, “We don’t have time.”

She’s right, but he wants to take his time, to worship her body, like she deserves, he makes a promise to himself that tonight he will do just that.

He presses wet kisses along her jaw, teeth grazing against her pulse point as his hands slither up her bare leg. The large skirt of her dress makes it easy for him to move up her legs without restriction.

“I picked this dress for easy access.” Felicity says cheekily.

Oliver moans at her words, she’s going to be the death of him.

He presses his thumbs into her inner thighs and spreads her leg as he gets on his knees, he grips the underside of her thighs and tugs her to the edge of the seat, her dress is bunched up around her waist and he can see the wet stain on her hot pink lacey panties. He moans softly, ignoring Felicity’s protest that they don’t have time for this.

He may not get to do _everything_ he planned  for their first time, but he damn will do this. He takes hold of the lacey front of her panties and with one swift movement tears them apart.  Her protest dies on her lips the moment Oliver’s tongue touches her wet folds. She moans his name loudly, her fingers carding through his hair as he laps at her folds.

Her heel digs into his shoulder, but he doesn’t care, as he increases the thrusts of his tongue, he doesn’t have the space to use his hand, so each time he swipes his tongue along he folds, he presses his tongue firmly against her clit earning a short gasps, Felicity’s hips rise with each press of his tongue.

“Oliver...oh god...Oliver….fuck!” She hisses out loudly as her hips rise high over the desk and she buckles against him, her knee knocking against his head as she comes.

She collapses back against the desk, propped up by her elbows, “Oh _god_.”

Oliver only smirks in satisfaction as he stands up and quickly unbuckles his belt and pants, his suspenders falling behind him as his pants drops, his erection is straining against his boxers, he’s just about to pull those down too, when nimble little hands slap his away, and he has to hold onto to the table when Felicity’s small hand wraps around his cock, pumping it a few times, just before she tugs his boxers low enough for his cock to spring free. She moves to slide off the table and now get on _her_ knees, but Oliver places his hands on her shoulders stopping her, and she _pouts_ at him.

“We _definitely_ don’t have time for that and this.” Oliver says gesturing to both of them.

She sighs but nods in agreement, she squeezes him a few more times, before she releases him and tugs him by the hand towards her,

“When we get home it’s the first thing I’m doing.”  Felicity says with conviction.

“You won’t hear me complaining.” Oliver says with a grin, Felicity giggles her cheeks reddening and Oliver wonders if she hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

He doesn’t get to ask though, cause suddenly Felicity is tugging him by the bowtie, the small fabric unravelling and she fuses her lips against his.

He sighs into the now familiar soft feeling of her lips, her legs are spread, and he takes a step closer, Felicity’s free hand gripping his cock, pumping it a few times and then they both groan simultaneously just as he slides between her folds.

“Oh god.” He moans, he’s completely surrounded by her wetness, it takes everything in him to not thrust his hips, but he waits for Felicity to adjust, and then when she starts to move her hips against his, he slowly begins to meet her thrust.

Their moans and the sound of skin slapping against skin echos around the small office, Oliver’s fingers dig into Felicity’s waist, her own hands are carding through his hair, their eyes have been locked the moment he slid into her.

“God, I love you.” Felicity moans softly, her hips rising and meet his thrusts, her fingers dig into his scalp and Oliver suspects she’s close, which is good because he doesn’t think he could last any long.

“Let go, baby.” Oliver whispers against her lips just as  he kisses her and sure enough her entire body tenses and she flutters around him in succession as she comes, his name soft on his lips.

She never stops rocking her hips though, her hands move from his hair, to grab his ass and Oliver jerks against her in surprise, she only smirks at him, clenching around his cock, making Oliver hiss, “Your turn.”

Her soft breath against his cheek is the final straw and Oliver gasps out her name as he comes. He presses a wet sloppy kiss against her cheeks and softly murmurs, “I love you.”

 

* * *

 

Oliver tugs down Felicity’s skirt just as he presses a wet kiss against her swollen lips, they are both  panting, cheeks red with matching grin

“Given how long we’ve been in here I don't think anyone missed us, we should just head home.” Felicity declares collapsing onto Oliver, her blond hair is in a disarray, her forehead warm against his neck.

Oliver chuckles they have not been in here as long as he would like, not even close. He's trying to find a reason why he can't go along with Felicity’s plan other than Thea would kill him, but he keeps coming up blank. He brushes down her hair, that looks like a bird nest, not that he would tell her that. She fixes the collar of his shirt and Oliver realizes he never even got his shirt unbuttoned, his bowtie is the only thing undone.

“Talk about your scandal, newly re-appointed and _married_ CEO of Queen Consolidated found having one last romp at a charity event with mysterious blonde.” A new voice calls out.

The moment he heard the voice he has spun them around so Felicity was partially hidden behind him, his back to the intruder. And coincidentally his pants _had_ fallen to his ankles in their haste and he hadn't realized.  He doesn't recognized the voice but Felicity does and _she_ in turn steps around him to face the woman in question as she brushes back her hair blocking Oliver from view as he pulls up his pants.

“Mysterious blonde? You knew very well that we _both_ slipped into this room. Why don't you just tell us what is it that you want Ms. Williams and we can all move on from this childish game you insist on engaging us in?” Felicity asks tiredly.

“I want to be told first of all the happenings with Queen Consolidated and family.” Susan says her eyes begin to gleam with excitement. “I've heard the buzz, QC is on its way to become the Fortune 500 it use to be. People are talking about Mrs. Queen’s credentials and her plans for the company, its going to set Starling City on the map add it to the fact that you both are now the Kate and William of Starling City. _Everyone_ wants to be the first to break all these new developments and I wanted to be that personal reporter.”

“QC already has a PR team and they contact the newspapers as they see fit.” Oliver retorts.

“No she wants to be the _only_ one.” Felicity says eyes narrowing suspiciously, “that's a pretty big demand to make and what makes you think we would agree so easily.”

“I have information.” Susan pulls out a small blue USB drive. “Information that could possibly turn _many_ lives upside down, and tarnish this new image Mr. Queen has been building.”

“She’s bluffing.” Oliver remarks with a growl, already tired of this woman and her games.

“Am I?” Susan taunts, she flips the USB between her fingers taunting them.

Felicity surprises Oliver when she leaps forward making for a grab at the USB, but Susan seems unfazed by Felicity’s movements and allows Felicity to take it.

“Take it. It’s not like my only copy.” Susan remarks breezily.

“And you’re naive to think that you will still have that copy now that _I_ have a copy.” Felicity remarks in the same tone.

Oliver smirks as the self satisfied smirks slips from her face. She narrows her eyes at Felicity, “ _You’re_ bluffing.”

“I don’t bluff, Ms. Williams.” Felicity threatens and Oliver has absolutely no clue if she is or not, but his smile widens nevertheless.

“Even if you delete all the evidence on that drive, you can’t erase a _person_ . No matter what you do, _he_ still exists and is very real and with one call I can turn your life upside down.”

“ _Who_?” Felicity asks confused.

Oliver can see her confidence slipping and he too is starting to get a bad feeling simmering low in his stomach, even more so when Samantha turns to him, that smug grin of her slowly beginning to blossom once again, as soon as she realizes she has the upper hand. “Samantha Clayton, does that name ring a bell?”

“All of this was about an _ex-girlfriend_?” Felicity says with a scoff, her back is turned towards Oliver so she hasn’t seen the look of horrified realization that has crossed his face. “What did Oliver reject you years ago to go out with some other girl and now you’re looking for revenge?”

“She doesn’t know.” Samantha says in delight, which makes Oliver’s blood boil.

“I’m unsure if there is anything _to_ know.” Oliver says with uncertainty turning to look at Felicity, “Samantha was someone I was with a long time ago, before the island. She ended up pregnant but then a few weeks later she lost the baby.”

“Oh Oliver, I’m sorry.” Felicity takes his hand squeezing it in comfort.

“That’s what she wanted you to think.”

Oliver staggers at her words, Felicity’s hand tightening around his, her eyes widening, she whips her head around glaring at Susan, “If this is some kind of joke to get your way…”

“ _This_ is my play.” Susan remarks, “turns out the late Mrs. Queen had not covered her tracks as much as you all made everyone believe. She made a one million dollar cheque to one Samantha Clayton. I was curious on why her, she was unknown woman, that had no interactions with anyone in the company, I thought maybe your father had an affair. Turns out Samantha Clayton went to university with you, Laurel Lance and Tommy Merlyn….long story short I found out she was currently living in Central City with an 8 year old boy, William Clayton. I have some contacts with Mercury Labs was able to do some digging and it turns out the next generation of Queens will not _begin_ with a little Queen-Smoak.”

Oliver feels as though the ground has collapsed underneath him, but before he can react, Felicity’s small arms are around his waist holding him up helping him sit against the desk, that not a few minutes ago they were using for a totally different reason. He wants to accuse Susan of lying, but the sad fact is everything she just said sounds _exactly_ like his mother’s doing and Samantha _did_ just pick up and left for Central City. There are too many coincidences in her story for it _not_ to be true and Oliver doesn’t know what or how to deal with that information.

Felicity seems to take things with stride, realizing that Oliver is at a lost for words and takes control of the situation like she always does, “So you’re saying you’ll keep all this to yourself. Let _us_ deal with this family matter, if we promise that you are the one to break whatever news the company, or our family, has first?”

“Yes, and maybe then I’ll finally get to anchor the evening news, rather than working all the fluff pieces.” Susan mutters to herself.

“Deal…”

“Felicity.” Oliver calls out warningly, they can’t just make a deal with the devil without thinking things through.

Felicity only squeezes his hand, stopping him as she continues, “I want to make things very clear Ms. Williams, the moment there is so much a _whiff_ of this story, even hitting the lowest of lows of internet blogs - and trust me I _will_ know the _moment_ that happens - just know your career as you know it? _Over_. By the time I’m through, I’ll make it difficult for you to even have a blog for you favourite TV show. Are we clear?”

Felicity’s voice is like steel - under any other circumstance Oliver would have been completely turned by it all - her body rigid as she looks at a befuddled Susan Williams in the eye. Seems like the older woman underestimated Felicity’s tenacity and that was her biggest mistake.

“Alright, deal.” She looks like she wants to say more, but at the cold look Felicity sends her, she retreats clearly never expecting the tables to turn on her quite so drastically, just before she’s out of the door the Felicity calls out to her.

Felicity looks at the USB in her hand and then two both Susan and Oliver’s surprise, toss the small device back at the woman, “You can keep that, I’ll do my own research _then_ check out yours to see if it matches.

Susan looks at her horrified, but refrains on commenting before she walks out of the small office, closing the door on her way out.

“What do we do now?” Oliver asks, his voice and filled with uncertainty. His mind still trying to wrap around the latest news.

 _A son_ . He has _a son_.

“Now, we verify that woman’s story and...and if it pans out….” Felicity takes a deep breath, her eyes never wavering from his, “If it pans out, we go meet your son.”

“My son.” Oliver echoes his voice full of awe, “I have a son.”

“You do.” Felicity echoes, Oliver is so lost in his own thoughts, he misses her crestfallen expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth about including William in this fic, but seeing as everything started because of tabloid and people butting into their lives this seemed fitting.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One year and a few days short of a month and with this chapter and the tiny epilogue this story comes to an end. 
> 
> Thank you all who stuck around for my erratic updates, thank you for the new reads who only recently found this.This story started off as a small little thing about a what if and morphed into a 65k monster of a fic and my very first canon divergence fic.

“Are you okay?” Felicity asks softly, her fingers running soft circles along the inside of Oliver’s wrist, she can practically feel the tension radiating off this body. 

They got into Central City the previous night, it’s been a little over 48 hours since Susan Williams has drop that bomb on Oliver, and Felicity was able to confirm the report’s accusations. They told team Arrow and Thea they were taking a little mini vacation together, Oliver not ready for anyone else to know yet.

Oliver has been characteristically quiet, as she did her research she gave him his space, but the moment they left Starling City, he surprised her when he opens up about all his concerns, with William, with Samantha and all the possible scenarios that they could face.

Now, as they sit in the rental car outside Samantha’s house, Felicity can see all his insecurities beginning to surface. “Hey, look at me.”

Oliver turns to her, his eyes full of uncertainty, she takes his hand squeezing it, “C’mon we have been over this, you aren’t doing anything wrong. Calling her wasn’t an option because you don’t really know her and you know confronting her face to face is the best course of action.”

“What if she refuses to let him see me?” Oliver asks with concern, it’s something he’s voiced numerous times as they discussed things.

“She can’t, well she might be able to, we’ll figure it out as we go.” Felicity promises. She’s never seen Oliver like this, so uncertain, usually he’s jumping into things taking charge and trying to solve problems before they even have all the details of the problem. It would drive her up a wall, but now he’s just staring out of the car, looking at the two storey house that his son calls home.

The first thing she did she once they confirmed William was indeed his, she discretely saved a picture of William in his Little league uniform and sent it to Oliver’s phone. After she found him staring at her computer monitor she knew he needed a better picture than William’s second grade photo. 

Now, he’s looking at the front yard, taking in the few toys that are littering the lawn. She can practically see the wheels turning in his head. 

“He can ride a bike.” Oliver says pointing unnecessarily at the bike leaning against the stairs leading up to the front door.

“He does, and he likes baseball.” Felicity said tapping the phone is his hand, that has Williams's picture on it. “I’m sure he’d love to see the Rockets play some time.”

“You think?” Oliver asks hopefully.

“I’m certain.” She takes his hand and presses a kiss to his knuckles. “It’s impossible not to love you.”

Oliver scoffs at her words, “I am impossible to get to know.”

Felicity laughs, he’s not wrong, but he’s also not completely right either, “Yes, but not when it comes to the people you love, and I know you, I know you love him already.”

“He’s my son.” Oliver says simply.

“Exactly,” Felicity says as though that explains everything, “I know you’re nervous, but it will be fine, I promise. I’ll be right here in the car I promise.”

“Wait what?” Oliver says in alarm, “No. You have to come with me.”

“Oliver, I can’t…. this is between you and Samantha.” Felicity tries to reason, they’d been over what he’d say to Samantha a dozen times, went through every scenario possible, but they never talked about her going with him, she just assumed he would do it alone.

“But, you’re my wife.” Oliver says simply, they’ve been married a little over three months now and Felicity heart flutters at thought, it’ s probably due to the fact that they have also only been together for three  _ days _ now...and now they are now on their way to meet Oliver’s eight year old son. 

If someone had told her 5 months ago that this is where she would be, she would have laughed in their face, sometimes she still can’t believe it.

“Yes, but we don’t want to tag team her, or intimidate her. You should speak to her alone.” Felicity insists.

Oliver though shakes his head, “No, we’re a package deal. She needs to know that’s non-negotiable. Besides, anything she has to say in front of me she can say in front of you. I need you there with me Felicity.”

She wants to argue more but she can see that he’s not going to change his mind on this, and if she’s honest with herself she curious about how this conversation would go. The woman after all allowed Moira to buy her off. Then again Felicity can’t help but wonder what she would have done if she were in Samantha’s shoes and given the ultimatum at 21 if she would have chosen the same way.

She looks across at Oliver, sees the worry and concern across his face and the way in which he continues to tug at the collar of his plaid shirt. He’s nervous and in any other situation Felicity would think it was adorable, but right in this moment, Felicity can’t help but mirror his sentiment.

They are both so lost in their thoughts, they don’t hear the front gate open until someone is pounding loudly on the window. They both jump and Felicity knows it’s a testament to how nervous Oliver is, at the fact that not even he saw the person arose.

“What do you want? You’ve been sitting in front my property for the past 20 minutes and I called the police this is not... _ Oliver _ ?” Samantha is tall slim brunette, standing with a baseball bat in her hand, looking at him in alarm, “What are you doing here?”

“I know about William. I know that he’s my son.” Oliver says, his voice wavering slightly, and Felicity only tightens her hold on her hand, hoping to give him as much support as she can.

“Oliver, you shouldn’t be here.”

“We need to talk.” Oliver says with more certainty, already getting out of the car, Felicity close behind, and Samantha has no other choice, but to gesture for them to follow her into the house.

“This is Felicity…”

“Your wife, I know.” Samantha says dryly, as they enter the house, “You’re all over the news in Central City too.”

But Oliver has momentarily forgotten about the other woman as they walk through the hallways that is littered with numerous photographs that depicts the last 8 years of William’s life. From a cute pudgy little baby with blonde wisps of hair, to a tall lanky 8 year old with head full of dark brown hair, but his eyes, his eyes are crystal blue, with just a speck of green, and Felicity feels as though she’s looking right into her husband’s eyes. It’s uncanny, and she can tell that Oliver notices it immediately.

Felicity places her hand on his forearm, pulling him away from the pictures and back his son’s mother who seems to be getting more and more agitated as time goes by.

“You told me you lost the baby.” Oliver’s voice is soft and broken and Felicity’s heart breaks for him. “I told you I was ready for that responsibility, but you lied and you left.”

“You weren’t ready and when your mother offered me the money to leave, and then another that would take of us, I couldn’t refuse.” Samantha said, she goes to a small box high on the fridge and pulls out an old wrinkled piece of paper and hands it over to Oliver, “I took the first check, it allowed me to provide for William when he was born, got us settled into Central City and helped me finished college, but I refused to take the other one. I didn’t want to owe your mother anything.”

“I don’t want that money, keep it for William, for college.” Oliver says taking a step back from Samantha. “I want to get to know my son.”

“Oliver.” Samantha says full of uncertainty, casting Felicity a glance before looking back at Oliver, “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why? Every little boy deserves to know his father.” Oliver said stubbornly.

“William has a good life here, I don’t want to uproot him.”

“I’m not asking you to move to Starling City. I’m asking you to let me get to know my son.” Oliver almost snaps, his fist clenched to his side, and Felicity has to put a calming hand on his back, to reel him back, knowing he can’t let his temper get the best of him. “I’m not the same guy that knocked you up all those years ago. I’ve changed, I’m married now. I’m running my family’s company…”

“Oliver we don’t need any of your money, we’re doing well on our own.” Samantha snipes, and Felicity is just itching to point out that without the Queen money Samantha probably wouldn’t have been where she is not to begin with.

“This isn’t about money. This is just me wanting to get to know my son. “Oliver repeats almost pleading with her, but Samantha still isn’t convinced.

“I’ve seen what a three-ring circus your life has been, ever since you got back after that shipwreck, these past few month especially. I don’t want that for my son. I don’t want him involved in that kind of life.” 

“He won’t.” Oliver promises taking a step towards Samantha, it’s not something he  _ can _ promise, but Felicity will make it her damndest to make sure he does. “I can come out to Central City to see him, I can get to know him, and you can see that I have changed.”

Samantha looks at him reluctantly, and Felicity can see the hope begin to bubble within him, “I don’t want anyone else knowing about this and I don’t want William knowing who you are.”

Felicity goes to protest  _ loudly _ but Samantha seems to have picked up on it and quickly continues, “For now, I don’t want him to know who you are.  _ I _ need to make sure that you’re sure about this before I tell William about you.”

Oliver is about to protest, but Felicity beats him to the punch, “Oliver isn’t going to abandon your... _ his _ son.” Felicity says with conviction, “You may not know the man he’s become, but  _ I _ do, and I can tell you to this man,  _ family _ means the world to him. I’ve seen Oliver risk his life to protect his family, time and time again, no questions asked. Oliver loves with not just his heart but his entire  _ being _ . There is no place in the world that William would be safer, than with Oliver, I can promise you that. Oliver’s not going anywhere.”

In the corner of her eye, she can see how moved Oliver is by her words, but Felicity is more focused on the woman in front of her, the uncertainty in Samantha’s eyes is plain, “You’re asking me to give you my world.”

Oliver raises his hands up in surrender shaking his head as he takes a step towards Samantha, “I’ll never take him away from you, all I am asking is for you to let me love my son.”

Felicity can see the moment Samantha’s resolve starts to break, “Alright, but I want to be there for the first few meetings, and you have to run everything by me before you plan anything. Maybe with time, once I’ve seen for myself that you have changed, you can take him out on your own, provided that he wants to go that is.”

Felicity sees the look of panic that crosses Oliver’s face at the thought of his son not wanting to spend time with him. She slips her hand through his and smiles encouragingly up at him, “Hey, it’s okay he’s going to love you.”

Felicity turns to Samantha, “I know it’s not my place to say, but I really think you should reconsider telling William from the beginning. As someone who give anything for her father to come back into her life, I think William should know who Oliver is from the beginning.”

Samantha is clearly uncertain, she looks back and forth between the couple before she finally nods in agreement. Felicity can feel Oliver tense besides her, his hands begin to sweat in nervousness, but despite all of this Oliver straightens his back and looks Samantha in the eye, his own eyes pleading, “Can I tell him?”

“Alright, he’s asked about you a few times over the years, I’ve told him you were just ‘away’.” Samantha explains, “After the shipwreck, I couldn’t find it to tell him you died. So you were just ‘away’.”

“Okay.” Oliver says with a nod, still nervous, “I won’t mess this up, I promise.”

Samantha though surprises them both when she only chuckles in response, “Oh you will, but you’ll learn that’s just one part of being a parent.”

Oliver’s shoulders relax at her friendly words, her olive branch of acceptance is exactly what he needed to hear, “What’s the most important?”

He’s so eager to learn, Felicity’s heart just swells with affection, she can just picture him pouring over book after book, about parenthood the moment they start to try for their own family. Felicity heart skips a beat at the thought, before all this, she just pictured her and Oliver being together, she knew marriage was pretty permanent but she had never looked beyond all of that just content with them just being, now all she can see is little blue eyed blonde babies in her future and the thought doesn’t terrify her like she thought it should.

“The most important thing, is always showing up.” Samantha explains her warning evident.

“That I can do.” Oliver promises, he’s about to continue when the front door opens and an unfamiliar voice calls out, Oliver immediately becomes tense, the nerves are radiating off of him.

“I’m in the kitchen!” Samantha calls out answering William’s shouts, “Don’t forget to put away your stuff and take your shoes off by the door!” 

She looks at Oliver, still slightly uncertain, “It will take him a little time to pack away his baseball gear and take off his shoes, do you want to meet him?”

“Now?” Oliver stutters.

Instead of answering him, Samantha calls out to William once again, “Hey, Will? There is someone I want you to meet.”

“Who?” Comes the curious voice in return and Oliver’s eyes bug out in surprise.

Felicity giggles lightly at his reaction, and nudges him gently towards the door, “Go meet your son.”

Oliver looks at her with uncertainty, and then back Samantha almost for permission and Samantha nods. Oliver takes a deep breath and slowly walks out of the kitchen, his voice muffled as he greets William.

Samantha though walks to the other side of the kitchen and gestures for Felicity to follow, curious Felicity silently follows her as they slip into a small dinning room, and then a small door that leads to the living room, the wooden doors that separate the two rooms are just barely ajar and Felicity not only has a clear view of Oliver and William hovering at the entrance to the living room, but she can also hear their entire conversation.

“You’re a friend of my mom’s?” William asks curiously, cheeks a covered in dirt, his brown hair soaking in sweat and his once white baseball uniform is filled with grass stains and dirt stains. “How come I never met you before.”

“I’m from Starling City.” Oliver explains his voice soft and Felicity can hear how it wavers slightly his nervousness evident, she can’t see from this vantage point, but she’s certain Oliver’s finger and thumb are rubbing against each other in that nervous tick of his as he speaks. “I knew your Mom back when she use to live there.”

“Oh.” Williams says with surprise realization, his blue eyes going wide, “Did you know my Dad?”

“I…” Oliver falters, and Felicity wonders if he changed his mind on telling William who he is, “Actually, I did...I  _ do. _ ”

This has William’s full attention now, the baseball he was tossing from hand to hand, lands on the floor with a soft thud. “ _ Really _ ? What was he like?”

“I...actually...I’m your father, William.” Oliver say tripping over his words in his haste, (years from now Felicity will tease Oliver about the fact that he had the perfect Dark Vader moment and he completely let it go).

“You’re...you’re my dad?” William asks in awe, his eyes looking at Oliver then around the room in panic, Samantha seems to pick up on it immediately and takes a two quick strides into the living room. William though doesn’t run to Samantha, but only looks at her for confirmation, his eyes continuing to filter back to Oliver with curiosity. “Is it true?”

Samantha nods, “Oliver is your Dad.”

“Oh.” William says again, little round face wrinkling in uncertainty as he shifts from one sock clad foot to the other.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around William.” Oliver says in earnest, “but I’m here now and I hope that we can get to know each other.”

William nods in what Felicity hopes is agreement, he looks at his mother slightly uncertain but Samantha only nods in encouragement. He then seems to see Felicity for the first time, his little nose wrinkles thoughtfully and he scratches his chin, the same way  _ Oliver _ does when he’s slightly confused. 

“Oh this is my wife, Felicity.” Oliver introduces beckoning Felicity closer, but she subtly shakes her head and waves at William warmly, “Hi, William its nice to meet you. I’m gonna borrow your mom for a bit, is that okay?”

Samantha seems to catch on and nods encouragingly at William, “Felicity and I are going to have a coffee, why don’t your show your Dad your baseball cards? He use to play baseball in high school.”

“Really?” William asks turning to Oliver with eager eyes, “Who is your favourite? I’ve got  _ lots _ or cards that are  _ ancient _ like from the 80s and stuff.”

Oliver laughs loudly at that, be follows William’s eager form up the stairs, not before he looks back at Felicity throwing her an equally excited smile.

“You know, other than his eyes I never saw Oliver in William until that moment.” Samantha says thoughtfully. Despite her earlier hesitance she seems much more welcoming to the idea of Oliver being in William’s life and Felicity is certain it has to be due to the genuine affection and eagerness William expressed on meeting Oliver.

“Thank you for doing this.” Felicity says softly, “I know you and Oliver have no history, other than that night and the Oliver you knew wasn’t the best person, but this Oliver is nothing like the kid you use to know. He’ll try his hardest to do right by William.”

“I hope so.” Samantha says softly. An awkward silence falls between the two, typical of two people who don’t know each other, “So do you and Oliver have kids?” 

“Oh no, no, no...no we just got together….I mean just got  _ married _ .” Felicity corrects her cheeks pinking up, “Everything is just so new, so many changes….I think it will be awhile before that happens, Oliver has a lot of years to make up to William before we can think about that.”

“Ah...you haven’t talked about that yet.” Samantha says slightly amused.

“Nope.” Felicity chuckles lighlty, apparently she was more transparent than she thought, “So, tell me about William.”

 

* * *

 

Felicity lounges on the bed in their hotel room, grinning as Oliver paces the hotel room, for once in his life his pacing is not due to some person after him or someone he loves, but instead he’s pacing due to his excitement.

“...and he’s so smart too.” Oliver continues, the past hour he’s been telling Felicity about his time spent with William. 

They ended up spending most of the afternoon with William, after William thoroughly exhausted all his baseball knowledge with Oliver, Oliver asked him if he wanted to play some baseball in the backyard and William eagerly agreed. While Felicity and Samantha sat on the porch, Oliver and William took turns hitting some balls. 

When it was time to leave, Felicity was unsure who was unsure who was more disappointed, Oliver or William. After promising that they can spend the day together tomorrow, Oliver reluctantly said goodbye to his son for the night. It’s been two hours since they left, and hour since they had dinner, and he’s  _ still _ telling her all about William and it’s adorable. She’s never seen this side of Oliver before and it makes her love him just a little bit more. She never thought that Oliver would be so eager to be a dad. He’s never voiced that concern, hell up until recently he was hellbent on not being in a relationship much less have kids. His reaction the past two days had her concern, he retreated so much into himself, she was worried he was going to just leave things as they were and never see his son. 

She wasn’t worried that he would suddenly decide that all of this, the marriage, the son, all of it was too much for him. He’s grown since then, she knows Oliver is committed to their relationship, to their  _ marriage _ , she just never thought about kids would factor into the live they lead, and she’s certain that neither did Oliver, until Susan dropped that bomb on them, and once again she found herself trying to dip her toes into the pool, but then life decides to toss her into the deep end, with no floats in sight.

She worried that Oliver would think the life he lives has no place for a kid, despite the fact that John is clearly on the edge of doing just that. But the man in front of her right now, talking about 3rd grade science competitions (He offered Felicity’s help with that, he may have told William Felicity could build him a computer for the science fair, totally ignoring the rules, Felicity is certain), coaching a soccer team, going to William’s baseball games. 

He’s just  _ so _ excited about it all.

“He’s pretty good at baseball.” Felicity offers in amusement, knowing she doesn’t need to contribute much to the conversation, for once in their lives Oliver is the one going off on tangent.

“You know  _ nothing  _ about baseball.” Oliver teases with a smile plopping onto his side of the bed to take her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. She’s certain he’s not even aware he’s doing it which makes her heart soar a little a bit, the newness of their relationship still makes her body tingle, “But yes, he’s  _ really _ good. He’s got a great arm, and great aim, but he says he prefers batting than pitching.”

“Good aim is definitely a Queen trait.”  Felicity says thoughtfully, “Thea told me she use to play  _ archery _ in high school.”

“Oh that’s right, I forgot about that.” Oliver says, he scratches his thin in thought, “Do you think Samantha would let me teach William?”

Felicity laughs, “Maybe you should start off with something a little less dangerous, don’t scare her already. Given how William was bouncing all over the place today, I think he would  _ love _ it.”

Oliver nods, his eyes glazing over as he gets lost in thought, Felicity only chuckles in amusement, but then slowly slides over to him, her fingers trailing along his leg. She presses a kiss to his jaw,  her voice low, and the invitation in her tone evident, “I’m gonna take a shower.”

“I packed some of those bath bubble things you love so much.” Oliver says, pressing a brief kiss to Felicity’s lips, but to her disappoint turns around to grab her tablet. 

She feels like she’s living in a twilight zone, she can’t believe she has to spell it out for him, “It’s a pretty big tub.”

“I know, I looked for that when I was looking for the room, you mentioned that you missed your big tub from your old apartment.” Oliver supplies, his eyes never strays from the tablet. She wants to be annoyed with him, but the fact that he thought of that for her, is just so sweet, and now she’s just annoyed with herself for  _ being _ annoyed.

“What are you doing?” Felicity decides a different tactic, her hands are still roaming along his leg and up his torso, but Oliver seems to barely register what she’s doing.

“I’m looking to see what else there is to do in Central City for the day, it’s pretty late in the summer, but do you think that there are some street fairs or carnivals still open?”

“Maybe, or you can look for one of those kids museums, Samantha mentioned that William loves dinosaurs too.” Felicity offers, knowing she’s lost him to the google. 

The irony is not lost to her, the first time this happened, she always thought  _ she _ would be the one forgoing sex for google.

Is she going to be robbed of the honeymoon period of a new relationship as well?

With a sigh, she squeezing Oliver knee and slips off the bed, heading to the bathroom. She takes one last look at Oliver, and once again she can’t even be upset, the happy expression on his face, is something she doesn’t get to see often. 

She decides to forgo the bubble bath, hoping that tomorrow night she’d have better luck with Oliver joining her.  She sighs deeply as she takes a step into the large adjacent shower, Oliver went all out with their hotel room, and she misses having more space to stretch out in the bathroom. The bathroom in their apartment too tiny to hold all her makeup and hair supplies, much less Oliver’s toiletries as well. 

With William now factoring into their lives, Felicity knows she and Oliver need to get a bigger space. Sooner or later Oliver is going to want his son to visit them in Starling and as of right now their little loft apartment is  _ not _ big enough for three people, especially an energetic 8 year old.

There is just so much change happening so quickly, last week her biggest concern was if she would finally follow her heart and let Oliver in, she knew deep down that they were more than ready for that next step, and now….now she has a psuedo-stepson to worry about. 

Not that she resents William, she just wish she and Oliver got more than a few days to be  _ them _ . 

“I’m not being much of a husband, am I?” Oliver’s voice startles her, and Felicity loses her footing, but Oliver and his ninja reflex catches her before she could even touch the floor.

He’s standing in the shower, completely naked, looking down at her apologetically, “I realized in trying to be the perfect father, I completely forgot I’m a husband too.”

Felicity bites her lip, he’s not wrong, the last few days have been all about Oliver and William, as it  _ should _ be, but Felicity can’t ignore the overwhelming feeling of change that once again is being forced on her. Every time she thinks she’s got a handle on the situation, the new change in her life something  _ else _ happens and once again she’s right back to the beginning yet again.

She can’t help but tell Oliver that very thing, they promised they would be honest with each other, and she’s not hiding her feelings on this, just because everything is so new with William, doesn’t mean she should hold it back, that is  _ not _ the way they should start their marriage.

Oliver looks crestfallen, but squares his shoulders in almost acceptance, “if you need time apart…”

“What?  _ No _ !” Felicity says with conviction taking a step towards him, the heat of the shower rises around them, and Felicity can just barely make out Oliver’s silhouette, she really is  _ blind _ without her glasses. “Don’t give me an out. I’m not asking for an out.”

“But, you said so much has changed….”

“Yes, and more things are going to change, we’re going to have to look for a bigger apartment, the company is barely up on its feet, you  have to tell your sister and Diggle about William. There is always going to be change in our lives Oliver, but that doesn’t mean I want an out. When I told you I was in this with you, I didn’t mean just a relationship, I meant the  _ marriage _ , I meant I was ready to be a  _ family _ with you.” She says with conviction.

She takes a step closer, so that her bare toes are resting on Oliver’s, her chins rests on their clasps hands that are pressed between their naked bodies, “I want a family with you.”

“But you didn’t sign up for son, so soon.” Oliver says slightly defeated.

Felicity only chuckles, “It’s not like  _ you _ were ready for it either. So we end up expanding our little family of two far sooner than either of us planned, if anyone can adapt, it’s the two of us.”

“Are you sure?”

Felicity sighs and takes his hands, moving them so that they are wrapped around her wet waist, and then she wraps her arms around his neck, her breast are pressed against the hard contours of his stomach, “I love you, Oliver Queen. I’m in this with you no matter what and that includes all the things that comes along with it. We can take anything on,  _ together _ .”

“I love you so much.” Oliver whispers, almost like a confession, just before he lowers his head stopping a few inches from her lips, and just like their very first kiss all those months ago, he waits for her to meet him halfway. This time she doesn’t hesitate, she doesn’t hold back, she rises on her toes and presses her lips firmly against his. 

Her fingers tug at his hair, his lips taste like tap water and the barest hint of the beer he had at dinner. Oliver’s fingers curl against her hips, and she squeaks in surprise when he hoists her in the air and presses her against the cold tile wall, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist, and they both hiss and the change in position.

Oliver smiles down at her, water running down their joint bodies, “Just because we did things out of order, doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy all these firsts.”

“We do have  _ so _ many to tick of my list.” Felicity teases between gasps of pleasure, as Oliver’s lips wrap around her firm nipple. 

“There is a list?” Oliver quips in amusement, his tongue following the small water droplets running between her breasts.

“ _ Oh yes…. _ I hope you’re ready for what I have planned for you Mr. Queen.”

“I’m ready for whatever you have to give, Mrs. Queen.” Oliver grunts just as he slips between her folds their moans echoing around the small bathroom, with a promise of so much more.

* * *

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finding an end to this story was difficult because getting oliver and felicity together was obviously the end result, but I wanted to show that their lives didnt just stop once they got together, I wanted to show that they were it for each other.
> 
> Selfishly I also wanted to re-write the William scene, cause 408 was not my cup of tea.


	15. Epilogue

QUEENS RENEW VOWS IN INTIMATE WEDDING.

 

Starling City’s own royalty couple renewed their vows today, exactly one year and three months since they first tied the knot. Why three months after their first anniversary? No one knows, or do they care.

Queen Consolidated’s own CEO and VP renewed their vows this weekend, in a small intimate wedding with only their close friends, but this reporter was lucky enough to get  a personal with the not so newlyweds.

Only a handful of people were in attendance, their nearest and dearest. Which included Thea Queen of course, and QC head of security John Diggle. The latter’s daughter just shy of her first birthday playing flower girl.

The person of the hour wasn't the bride nor the groom but the groom’s _second_ man, Oliver Queen’s 9 year old son (his name is retracted at the request of his parents). You heard it here first, Oliver Queen has a son and he was involved in the wedding just as much as the rest of the family.

This reporter was lucky enough to be pressed for the wedding pictures and the littlest Queen fit in seamlessly with the Queen-Smoak family, even playing honorary best man for Oliver Queen (long time bodyguard John Diggle playing the best man). Both Queens looked dashing in matching tuxedos complete with matching lavender bow ties.

If you were born and raised in Starling City, like this report, you would know that the Queen family is Starling own royal family. From one scandal to the next the Queen family, Oliver Queen starred in most of these, but not today, today I saw a husband and a father.

Now, I know most of you want to know what the bride wore and despite being married for more than a year, the bride did not hold back with her dress,(courtesy of wedding planner/maid of honour/ sister in law Thea Queen no doubt). It was a gorgeous floor length white gown fit for...well a _Queen._

The pictures to follow barely does the dress justice.

Only friends and family were invited to the intimate ceremony but this reporter is certain it was nothing short of a fairytale.

_Susan William,_

_Global Star News_

 

* * *

 

 _“_ _Felicity, before I met you I had a plan. A way that I was going to be, but then, you walked into my life. Or, I showed up in your cubicle and, you changed everything. I was darkness. But with your kindness, your generosity, your passion, your intelligence, your wit and your trust, you brought me into the light. You let me know that I deserved it. This past year with you has been more than anything I could ever dream of, or anything I ever thought possible for myself. You not only showed me how to love, but you showed what it was like to be loved unconditionally. Your strength was sometimes the only thing that has kept me afloat and for the first time in my life I no long just live by today, but I look forward to our future, and I hope that 50 years from now we’ll be standing in this very spot, together.”_

_“Oliver...crap how am I supposed to go and top that, you big old softie...no I got this...Oliver, we’ve known each other a little over three years now and those three years I’ve grown and evolved so much, and it’s all thanks to you. From the moment you walked into my life, everything changed. I became a person I didn’t even know I was capable of becoming. I became the very best version of myself. That would have never been possible without your love...our love...Our love gives my life meaning, gives my life purpose and it brings me more joy than I could have ever imagine. This past year with you has been one of the most amazingly wonderful years of my life, and knowing we only have more years in front of us, has me excited for the future and what it has in store for us and for our family. I love you with all my heart, and that will never ever change.”_

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_THE END_


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